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I   »     »  .      ■      *    ^■X.i'   ' 


THE 


HISTORY 


OF 


CHEMISTRY. 


BY 

THOMAS    THOMSON,    M.D.  F.R.S.E. 

PROFKSKOK  OK  rHKMISTRY  IN  THB  UNIVKRSnT  OP  GLASGOW. 


IN    TWO    VOLUMES. 
VOL.    I. 


LONIiON: 


•  > 


HENJiy  COLBURN,  AND  RICHARO  fiENTLEY,; 

*  - 

NEW    BURLINGTON    STHBET-..     -        .  . 


J  8,30. 


11  PREFACE. 

from  extending  this  part  of  the  subject  to  any  greater 
length  than  I  have  done,  by  considering  the  small 
quantity  of  information  which  could  have  been  gleaned 
from  the  reveries  of  these  fanatics  or  impostors ;  I 
thought  it  sufl&cient  to  give  a  general  view  of  the  na- 
ture of  their  pursuits : '  but  in  order  to  put  it  in  the 
power  of  those  who  feel  inclined  to  prosecute  such  in- 
vestigations, I  have  given  a  catalogue  of  the  most 
eminent  of  the  alchy mists  and  a  list  of  their  works,  so 
far  as  I  am  acquainted  with  them./  This  catalogue 
might  have  been  greatly  extended.  Indeed  it  would 
have  been  possible  to  have  added  several  hundred 
names.  But  I  think  the  works  which  I  have  quoted 
are  more  than  almost  any  reasonable  man  would  think 
it  worth  his  while  to  peruse  ;  and  I  can  state,  from  ex- 
perience, that  the  information  gained  by  such  a  perusa 
will  very  seldom  repay  the  trouble. 


■;  •  •  •  •  • 


I'^he  |ccouu!t ,i>f  tKe   chemical  arts,  with  which  th 

anCijBiits*  jvere  acqifainted,  is  necessarily   imperfect 

.  becatl9e  aH  artj»  aHd  trades  were  held  in  so  much  con 

texfil^i  by  IheVA,'  thaf  they  did  not  think  it  worth  the 
••    •         • 

whj'Ie  to  Diake  themselves  acc\viaiuted   with  the  pre 


cesses.  My  chief  guide  has  been  Pliny,  but  many  of 
his  descriptions  are  unintelligible,  obviously  from  his 
ignorance  of  the  processes  which  he  attempts  to  de- 
scribe. Thus  circumstanced,  I  thought  it  better  to  be 
short  than  to  waste  a  great  deal  of  paper,  as  some  have 
done,  in  hypothesis  and  conjecture. 

The  account  of  the  Chemistry  of  the  Arabians  is 
almost  entirely  limited  to  the  works  of  Geber,  which  I 
consider  to  be  the  first  book  on  Chemistry  that  ever 
was  published,  and  to  constitute,  in  every  point  of 
view,  an  exceedingly  curious  performance.  I  was 
much  struck  with  the  vast  number  of  facts  with  which 
he  was  acquainted,  and  which  have  generally  been  sup- 
posed to  have  been  discovered  long  after  his  time.  I  - 
have,  therefore,  been  at  some  pains  in  endeavouring  to 
convey  a  notion  of  Geber*s  opinions  to  the  readers  of 
this  history ;  but  am  not  sure  that  I  have  succeeded. 
1  have  generally  given  his  own  words,  as  literally  as 
possible,  and,  wherever  it  would  answer  the  purpose, 
have  employed  the  English  translation  of  1678. 

Paracelsus  gave  origin  to  so  great  a  revolution  in  me- 
dicine  and  the  sciences  connected  with  it,  that  it  woxAA. 


IT  PHEFACE. 

have  been  unpardonable  not  to  have  attempted  to  lay 
his  opinions  and  views  before  the  reader ;  but,  after  pe- 
rusing several  of  his  most  important  treatises,  I  found 
it  almost  impossible  to  form  accurate  notions  on  the 
subject.     I  have,  therefore,  endeavoured  to  state  his 
opinions  in  his  own  words  as  much  as  possible,  that  the 
want  of  consistency  and  the  mysticism  of  his  opinions 
may  fall  upon  his  own  head.     Should  the  reader  find 
any  difficulty  in  understanding  the  philosophy  of  Para- 
celsus, he  will  be  in  no  worse  a  situation  than  every  on< 
has  been  who  has  attempted  to  delineate  the  opiniom 
of  this  most  extraordinary  man,  this  prince  of  quack 
and  impostors.     Van  Helmont*s  merits  were  of  a  muc 
higher  kind,  and  I  have  endeavoured  to  do  him  justice 
though  his  weaknesses  are  so  visible  that  it  require 
much  candour  and  patience  to  discriminate  accurate! 
between  his  excellencies  and  his  foibles. 

The  history  of  latro-chemistry  forms  a  branch 
our  subject  scarcely  less  extraordinary  than  Alchyn 
itself.     It  might  have  been  extended  to  a  much  great 
length  than  I  have  done.     The  reason  why  I  did  e 
enter  into  longer  details  was,  that  I  thought  the  subje 


more  intimately  con nect«i  witli  the  liistory  of  metliciin." 
thau  of  chemistry :  it  undoubtedly  contributed  to  tlie 
improvemenl  of  chemistry;  not,  however,  by  the 
opinionsor  the  physiology  of  the  iatro- chemists,  but  by 
inducing  their  contemporaries  and  successors  lo  apply 
themselves  to  the  discovery  of  chemical  medicines. 


^KThe  Hiatoiyof  Chemistry,  after  atheory  of  combus- 
tion had  heea  introduced  by  Beccher  and  Stahl.  be- 
comes much  more  important,  It  now  shook  off  the 
trammels  of  alchymy,  and  ventured  to  claim  its  station 
among  the  physical  sciences.  I  have  found  it  necessary 
to  treat  of  its  progress  during  the  eighteenth  century 
rather  succinctly,  but  1  hope  so  as  to  be  easily  intelli- 
gible. This  made  it  necessary  to  omit  die  names  of 
many  meritorious  individuals,  who  supplied  a  share  of 
the  contributions  which  the  science  was  continually 
receiving  from  all  quarters.  I  have  confined  myself 
to  those  who  made  the  most  prominent  figure  as  che- 
mical discoverers.  I  had  no  other  choice  but  to  follow 
this  plan,  unless  I  had  doubled  the  size  of  this  little 
work,  which  would  have  rendered  it  less  agreeable  and 
less  valuable  to  the  general  reader. 


VI  PREFACE. 

With  respect  to  the  History  of  Chemistry  during 
that  portion  of  the  nineteenth  century  which  is  alreadi 
past,  it  was  beset  with  several  diffieulties.     Many  o 
the  individuals,  of  whose  labours  I  had  occasion  t< 
speak^  are  still  actively  engaged  in  the  prosecution  o 
their  useful   works.      Others  have  but  just  left  th< 
arena,  and  their  friends  and  relations  still  remain  t< 
appreciate  their  merits.     In  treating  of  this  branch  c 
the  science  (by  far  the  most  important  of  all)  I  hav 
followed  the  same  plan  as  in  the  history  of  the  precedin 
century.      I  have   found  it  necessary  to  omit  man 
names  that  would  undoubtedly  have  found  a  place  in 
larger  work,  but  which  the  limited  extent  to  which 
was  obliged  to  confine  myself,  necessarily  compelh 
me  to  pass  over.     I  have  been  anxious  not  to  injure  tl 
character  of  any  one,  while  I  have  rigidly  adhered 
truth,  so  far  as  I  was  acquainted  with  it.     Should 
have  been  so  unfortunate  as  to  hurt  the  feelings  of  a 
individual  by  any  remarks  of  mine  in  the  followi 
pages,  it  will  give  me  great  pain ;  and  the  only  allev 
tion  will  be  the  consciousness  of  the  total  absence 
my  part  of  any  malignant  intention.     To  gratify  t 
wishes  of  every  individual  may,   perhaps,  be  imp 


PREFACE.  YU 


sible;  but  I  can  say,  with  truth,  that  my  uniform 
object  has  been  to  do  justice  to  the  merits  of  all,  so  far 
as  my  own  limited  knowledge  put  it  in  my  power 
to  do. 


1 


I. 


'i 


CONTENTS 


OP 


THE     FIRST     VOLUME. 


Page 
lutroduetioii        ........        1 

CHAPTER    I. 

Of  Alchymy        .  .  .  .  .  '        .  .  .3 

CHAPTER    II. 
Of  the  chemical  knowledge  poMened  by  the  Ancients  .     40 

CHAPTER    III. 
Chemistry  of  the  Arabian!      .  .  .  .  .110 

CHAPTER    IV. 
Of  the  progress  of  Chemistry  under  Paracelsus  and  his  disciples    140 

CHAPTER    V. 
Of  Van  Helmont  and  the  latro- Chemists       .       .  .    179 

CHAPTER    VI. 
Of  Agrieola  and  metallargy     ......    219 

CHAPTER    VII. 

Of  Glauber,  Lemery,  and  some  other  chemists  of  the  end  of  the 
seventeenth  century  ......    226 

CHAPTER    VIII. 
Of  the  attempts  to  establish  a  theory  in  chemistry  .    246 

CHAPTER    IX. 

Of  the  foundation  and  progress  of  scientific  chemistry  in  Great 
Britain 303 


^ 

A 


HISTORY    OF    CHEMISTRY. 


INTRODUCTION. 

Chemistry,  unlike  the  other  sciences,  sprang  ori-* 
ginally  from  delusion  and  superstition,  and  was  at  iti^ 
commencement  exactly  on  a  level  with  magic  and 
astrology.  Even  after  it  began  to  be  useful  to 
man,  by  furnishing  him  with  better  and  more  power- 
ful medicines  than  the  ancient  physicians  were  ac- 
quainted with,  it  was  long  before  it  could  shake  off 
the  trammels  of  alchymy,  which  hung  upon  it  like  a 
nightmare,  cramping  and  blunting  all  its  energies, 
and  exposing  it  to  the  scorn  and  contempt  of  the 
enlightened  part  of  mankind.  It  was  not  till  about 
the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century  that  it  was 
able  to  free  itself  from  these  delusions,  and  to  ven- 
ture abroad  in  all  the  native  dignity  of  a  useful  sci- 
ence. It  was  then  that  its  utility  and  its  importance 
began  to  attract  the  attention  of  the  world ;  that  it 
drew  within  its  vortex  some  of  the  greatest  and  most 
active  men  in  every  country ;  and  that  it  advanced 
towards  perfection  with  an  accelerated  pace.  The 
field  which  it  now  presents  to  our  view  is  vast  an^ 
imposing.  Its  paramount  utility  is  universally  ac- 
knowledged.    It  has  become  a  necessary  port  of  edw-* 

VOL,  J.  3 


2  iKTaoDUcnoK. 

cation.  It  has  contributed  as  much  to  the  progress  of 
society,  and  has  done  as  much  to  augment  the  com- 
forts and  conveniences  of  life,  and  to  increase  the 
power  and  the  resources  of  mankind,  as  all  the  other 
sciences  put  together. 

It  is  natural  to  feel  a  desire  to  be  acquainted  with 
the  origin  and  the  progress  of  such  a  science ;  and  to 
know  something  of  the  history  and  character  of  those 
numerous  votaries  to  whom  it  is  indebted  for  its  pro- 
gress and  improvement.  The  object  of  this  little  work 
is  to  gratify  these  laudable  wishes,  by  taking  a  rapid 
view  of  the  progress  of  Chemistry,  from  its  first  rude 
and  disgraceful  beginnings  till  it  has  reached  its  pre- 
sent state  of  importance  and  dignity.  I  shall  divide 
the  subject  into  fifteen  chapters.  In  the  first  I  shall 
treat  of  Alchymy,  which  may  be  considered  as  the  in- 
auspicious commencement  of  the  science,  and  which, 
in  fuct,  consists  of  little  else  than  an  account  of  dupes 
and  impostors ;  every  where  so  full  of  fiction  and  ob^ 
iourity,  that  it  is  a  hopeless  and  almost  impossible 
task  to  reach  the  truth.  In  the  second  chapter  I  shall 
endeavour  to  point  out  the  few  small  chemical  rillsi 
which  were  known  to  Uie  ancients.  These  I  shall  fol-« 
low  in  their  progress,  in  the  succeeding  chapters,  till 
at  last,  augmented  by  an  infinite  number  of  streanui 
flowing  at  once  from  a  thousand  different  quarterii 
they  have  swelled  to  the  mighty  river,  which  now  flowi 
on  m«kjeatically»  wafting  wealth  and  information  to  th| 
civilised  world. 


A 


CHAPTER   h 


or  ALCBTMT. 


The  word  ehemistry  (xnM<^'«  chemeia)  first  occurs  in 
SuidaSy  a  Greek  writer,  who  is  supposed  to  have  lived 
in  the  eleventh  century,  and  to  have  written  his 
lexicon  during  the  reign  of  Alexius  Comnenus.* 
Under  the  word  xty/ma  in  his  dictionary  we  find  the 
following  passage: 

*^  Chemistry,  the  preparation  of  silver  and  gold. 
The  books  on  it  were  sought  out  by  Dioclesian  and 
burnt,  on  account  of  the  new  attempts  made  by  the 
Egyptians  against  him.  He  treated  them  with  cruelty 
and  harshness,  as  he  sought  out  the  books  written  by 
the  ancients  on  the  chemistry  (  Uepi  xnv^*^  )  ^^  S^^^ 
and  silver,  and  burnt  them.  His  object  was  to  pre-* 
vent  the  Egyptians  from  becoming  rich  by  the  know- 
ledge of  this  art,  lest,  emboldened  by  abundance  of 
wealth,  they  might  be  induced  afterwards  to  resist  the 
Romans,  "t 

*  The  word  X9M^'^  is  said  to  occur  in  several  Greek  manu- 
scripts of  a  much  earlier  date.  But  of  this,  as  I  have  never  had 
•n  opportunity  of  seeing  them,  I  cannot  pretend  to  judge.  So 
much  fiction  has  been  introduced  into  the  history  of  Alchymy, 
and  so  many  ancient  names  have  been  tr«acherously  dragged 
into  the  service,  that  we  may  be  allowed  to  hesitate  when  no 
evidence  is  presented  sufficient  to  satisfy  a  reasonable  num. 

t  Xiy/Mca,  ^  rov  apyvpov  irett  xpvo'ov  KolourKtvrf  ^9  ra  fiifiKM 
h§pfinnjffa/JL€yos  ^  AiOKKijIiayos   ^Kawrtp    S((i  ra  vwhfwOwl^ 

32 


4  HISTORY  OF  CHEMISTRY. 

Under  the  word  Aipac,  deras  (a  skin),  in  the  lexicon, 
occurs  the  following  passage :  '*  ^pac,  the  golden  fleece, 
which  Jason  and  the  Argonauts  (after  a  voyage  through 
the  Black  Sea  to  Colchis)  took,  together  with  Medea, 
daughter  of  ^tes,  the  king.  But  this  was  not  what 
the  poets  represent,  but  a  treatise  written  on  skins 
(^ipfiaac),  teaching  how  gold  might  be  prepared  by 
chemistry.  Probably,  therefore,  it  was  called  by 
those  who  lived  at  that  time,  golden  y  on  account  of 
its  great  importance."*  ■ 

From  these  two  passages  there  can  be  no  doubt  that 
the  word  chemistTry  was  known  to  the  Greeks  in  the  ele- 
venth century  ;  and  that  it  signified,  at  that  time,  the 
art  of  making  gold  and  silver.  It  appears,  further, 
that  in  Suidas*s  opinion,  this  art  was  known  to  the 
Egyptians  in  the  time  of  Dioclesian ;  that  Dioclesian 
was  convinced  of  its  reality ;  and  that,  to  put  an  endL 
to  it,  he  collected  and  burnt  all  the  chemical  writingft 
to  be  found  in  Egypt.  Nay,  Suidas  aihrms  that  ^ 
book,  describing  the  art  of  making  gold,  existed  at 
the  time  of  the  Argonauts:  and  that  the  object  of 
Jason  and  his  followers  was  to  get  possession  of  that 
invaluable  treatise,  which  the  poets  disguised  unde^ 
the  term  golden  fieece.  ^ 

The  tirst  meaning,  then,  of  chemistry,  was  the  art 
(^  making  gold.  And  this  art,  in  the  opinion  of 
Suidas,  was  understood  at  least  as  early  as  one  thcnav 

A 

d7fSir  acoi  ra  t^  x^/icuis  -xfiwrQu  kqll  apryvpou  rots  vaAJMm 
yrypctufiwa  &i$\ta  9tcp«i/ri^ra^cvos  tKawrtyVpos  ro  jui9«c«7t  vAovlri 
mtyymluHs  tar  nff  rotauh^s  vpoirytM^aQm  r«xi^s>  f^erfit  JjjnjjimTMt 
•iJ(Kt  fti/T^triTriT  w^ptowrta  rov  \oarQV  paipuuoLS  ay7cufNty. 

*  rtipai^  TO  xf"'^^^'^^^'*'^  S«paf .  ^tnp  d  Ja/rw  ^m  ti|s  toW«I|| 
^oXoirinit  «rvar  rots  apyoifaolais  9ls  ttip  icoKxtlia  irapcefwoitmm 
4\9fiov^  luu  n|y  MiyScuw  n|ir  AItitqv  rov  ffcuriKtms  ^vymr^a 
T9vlo  99  o6ic  &9  «o«|7ucMs  f^ptrat-  &^Aa  Bifi\iotf  ^  «»  9^^m 
yrfpQ^itif^m  vtfNrxov  A^vs  ^wyuf^xrBoi  Sm  x>Z^«^v  jcp^htq^'  tteafa 

<(  atf7M. 


or  ALCHYMY.  5 

sand  two  hundred  and  twenty-five  years  before  tke 
Christian  era :  for  that  is  the  period  at  which  the  Ar* 
gonautic  expedition  is  commonly  fixed  by  chronolo- 
gists. 

Though  the  lexicon  of  Suidas  be  the  first  printed 
book  in  which  the  word  Chemistry  occurs,  yet  it  ift 
said  to  be  found  in  much  earlier  tracts,  which  still 
continue  in  manuscript.  Thus  Scaliger  informs  us 
that  he  perused  a  Greek  manuscript  of  Zosimus,  the! 
Pan apolite, -written  in  the  fifth  century,  and  deposited 
in  the  King  of  France's  library.  Olaus  Borrichius 
mentions  this  manuscript ;  but  m  such  terms  that  it  ' 
is  difficult  to  know  whether  he  had  himself  read  it ; 
though  he  seems  to  insinuate  as  much.*  The  title 
of  this  manuscript  is  said  to  be  "A  faithful  Descrip- 
tion of  the  sacred  and  divine  Art  of  making  Gold 
and  Silver,  by  Zosimus,  the  Panapolite."t  ^^  this 
treatise,  Zosimus  distinguishes  the  art  by  the  name! 
xnft^f  ckemia.  From  a  passage  in  this  manuscript, 
quoted  by  Scaliger,  and  given  also  by  Olaus  Borri- 
chius, it  appears  that  Zosimus  carries  the  antiquity  of 
the  art  of  making  gold  and  silver,  much  higher  than 
Suidas  has  ventured  to  do.  The  following  is  a  literal 
translation  of  this  curious  passage : 

"  The  sacred  Scriptures  inform  us  that  there  exists 
a  tribe  of  genii,  who  make  use  of  women.  Hermes 
mentions  this  circumstance  in  his  Physics ;  and  almost 
every  writing  (\oyog),  whether  sacred  (^ove/ooc)  or  apo- 
crjrphal,  states  the  same  thing.  The  ancient  and 
divine  Scriptures  inform  us,  that  the  angels,  captivated 
by  women,  taught  them  all  the  operations  of  nature. 
OSence  being  taken  at  this,  they  remained  out  of 
heaven,  because  they  had  taught  mankind  all  manner 

•  Dc  Ortayt  Progressu  Chemise,  p.  12.  ' 

•f*  ^iuttrtftov  Tov  iravavoKiTov  yyrioia  ypa^ftt  Trepi  rtic  Upac,  Koi 
Ottae  rtxvfiQ  ^ov  xp^^ov  km  apyvpiov  voiti^wf,    UavavoKiS 
a  city  in  Egypt. 


^  HISTOKT  or  GHEinSTRY. 

of  evily  and  thmgs  which  could  not  be  advantageous 
to  their  souls.  The  Scriptures  inform  us  that  tha 
giants  sprang  from  these  embraces.  Chema  is  the 
first  of  their  traditions  respecting  these  arts.  The 
book  itself  they  called  Chema ;  hence  the  art  is  called 
Chstnia,*' 

Zosimus  is  not  the  only  Greek  writer  on  Chemistry. 
Olaus  Borrichius  has  given  us  a  list,  of  thirty-eight 
treatises,  which  he  says  exist  in  the  libraries  of  Rome^ 
Venice,  and  Paris :  and  Dr.  Shaw  has  increased  this 
list  to  eighty-nine.*  But  among  these  we  find  thd 
names  of  Hermes,  Isis,  Horus,  Democritus,  Cleopatra^ 
Porphyry i  Plato,  &c. — names  which  undoubtedly  have 
been  affixed  to  the  writings  of  comparatively  modem 
and  obscure  authors.  The  style  of  these  authors,  as 
Borrichius  informs  us,  is  barbarous.  They  are  chiefly 
the  production  of  ecclesiastics,  who  lived  between  the 
fifth  and  twelfth  centuries.  In  these  tracts,  the  art 
of  which  they  treat  is  sometimes  called  chemistry 
(xnfuta)  I  sometimes  the  chemical  art  (x^fttvruca)  l 
sometimes  the  holy  art ;  and  the  philosophers  stone. 

It  is  evident  from  this,  that  between  the  fifth  cen- 
tury and  the  taking  of  Constantinople  in  the  fifteenth 
century,  the  Greeks  believed  in  the  possibility  of  making 
gold  and  silver  artificially;  and  that  the  art  which 
professed  to  teach  these  processes  was  called  by  them 
Chemistry. 

These  opinions  passed  from  the  Greeks  to  the  An^ 
bians,  when,  under  the  califs  of  the  family  of  Aba»< 
tides,  they  began  to  turn  their  attention  to  science, 
about  the  beginning  of  the  ninth  century ;  and  whet 
the  enlightened  zeal  of  the  Fatimites  in  Africa,  anc 
the  Ommiades  in  Spain,  encouraged  the  cultivaiioi 
of  the  sciences.  From  Spain  they  gradually  mad 
their  way  into  the  difierent  Christian  kingdoms  of  Sn 
rope.  From  the  eleventh  to  the  sixteenth  century,  the  ai 

•  Shaw*s  iThuislation  of  Bberhaave's  Cliimblvyt  t  ftt« 


OF   ALCHTMTi 


^H^making  gold  and  silver  was  cultivated  in  Germany, 
^^Eilly.  France,  aod  England,  with  considerable  assi- 
duity. The  cultivators  of  it  were  called  Alchymuttt 
a  name  obviously  derived  from  the  Greek  word  cAe- 
mta,  but  somewhat  altered  by  the  Arabians.  Many 
alchymistical  tracts  were  written  during  that  period. 
A  considerable  number  of  them  were  collected  by 
Laxarus  Zetzner,  and  published  at  Strasburg  In  1602, 
under  the  title  of  "  Theatrura  Chemicum,  prtocipuoi 
selectorum  auctorum  tractatus  de  Chemise  et  Lapidia 
Philosophici  Antiquitate,  veritate,  jure,  prsestantia, 
et  operationibus  coDtinens  in  gratiam  verse  Chemieo 
et  Medicinic  Chemicte  Studiosocum  (ut  qui  ubcrrimam 
unde  optimorum  remediorum  messem  faccre  poterunt) 
COQgeslum  et  in  quatuor  partes  seu  votumina  diges- 
tum."  This  book  contains  one  hundred  and  fiva 
different  alchymistical  tracts. 

In  the  year  1610  another  collection  of  alchymistical 
tracts  was  published  at  Basil,  iu  three  volumes,  under 
the  title  of  "  Axtis  Auriferee  quam  Chemiam  vocant  vo< 
lumiua  tria."  It  contains  forly-seven  different  tracts. 
Id  the  year  1702  Mangetus  published  at  Geneva 
two  very  large  folio  volumes,  under  the  name  of  "  Bib* 
liotheca  Chemica  Curiosa,  aeu  rerum  ad  Alchyniiam 
pertinentlum  thesaurus  instruct issimus,  quo  non  tan- 
tum  Artis  Auriferee  ac  scriptorum  in  ea  nobiliorum 
HJstoria  traditur;  lapidis  Veritas  Argumentis  et  £s- 
gerimeiitis  innumeria,  immo  et  Juris  Consultorum  Ju- 
fuisevincitur;  Termini  obscuriores  explicantur;  Cau- 
BiflB  contra  Impostores  et  Difficulties  in  Tinctura 
■ttvaraali  conficienda  occurrentea  declarantur:  verum 
..Dam  Tractatus  omnea  Virorum  Celebriorum,  qui  in 
UagDO  sudarunt  Elixyre,  quique  ab  ipso  Hermete,  ut 
dicttur,  Triimegisto,  ad  nostra  usque  tempora  de  Chry- 
r>j|0{ioeft  icripserunt,  cum  prscipuis  suis  Commentariig, 
"^cinno  ordine  dispositi  exhibentur."  Tliis  Biblio* 
tea  contains  one  hundred  and  twenty-two  alchy- 
bUcal  UGatises,  many  of  them  of  considerable  length. 


8  HISTORY  OF  CHEMISTRY. 

Two  additional  volumes  of  the  Tlieatrum  Chemicnm 
were  afterwards  published ;  but  these  I  have  never 
had  an  opportunity  of  seeing. 

From  these  collections,  which  exhibit  a  pretty  com- 
plete view  of  the  writings  of  the  alchymists,  a  tolerably 
accurate  notion  may  be  formed  of  their  opinions.  Bat 
before  attempting  to  lay  open  the  theories  and  notions 
by  which  the  alchymists  were  guided,  it  will  be  proper 
to  state  the  opinions  which  were  gradually  adopted 
respecting  the  origin  of  Alchymy,  and  the  contrivances 
by  which  these  opinions  were  supported. 

Zosimus,  the  Panapolite,  in  a  passage  quoted  above 
informs  us,  that  the  art  of  making  gold  and  silver  was 
not  a  human  invention;  but  was  communicated  to 
mankind  by  angels  or  demons.  These  angels,  he  says, 
fell  in  love  with  women,  and  were  induced  by  their 
charms  to  abandon  heaven  altogether,  and  take  up 
their  abode  upon  earth.  Among  other  pieces  of  in- 
formation which  these  spiritual  beings  communicated 
to  their  paramours,  was  the  sublime  art  of  Chemistry, 
or  the  fabrication  of  gold  and  silver. 

It  is  quite  unnecessary  to  refute  this  extravagant 
opinion^  obviously  founded  on  a  misunderstanding  of 
a  passage  in  the  sixth  chapter  of  Genesis.  ^'  And  it 
came  to  pass,  when  men  began  to  multiply  on  the  face 
of  the  earth,  and  daughters  were  bom  unto  them, 
that  the  sons  of  God  saw  the  daughters  of  men,  that 
they  were  fair ;  and  they  took  them  wives  of  all  which 
they  chose. — ^There  were  giants  in  the  earth  in  those 
days;  and  also  after  that,  when  the  sons  of  God  came 
in  unto  the  daughters  of  men,  and  they  bare  children 
to  them ;  the  same  became  mighty  men,  which  were  of 
old,  men  o^  renown." 

There  is  no  mention  whatever  of  angels,  or  of  any 
information  on  science  commimicated  by  them  to 
mankind. 

Nor  is  it  necessary  to  say  much  about  the  opinion 
advanced  by  aomei  and  ra&er  countenanced  by  Olaui 


OF  ALCHYMT.  9 

BorrichhiKy  that  the  art  of  making  gold  was  the  inven- 
tion of  Tubal-cainj  whom  they  represent  as  the  same  as 
VulcanT  An  the  information  which  we  have  respecting 
Tubal-cain,  is  simply  that  he  was  an  instructor  of 
every  artificer  in  brass  and  iron.^  No  allusion  what- 
ever is  made  to  gold.  And  that  in  these  early  ages  of 
the  world  there  was  no  occasion  for  making  gold  arti- 
ficially,  we  have  the  same  authority  for  believing.  For 
in  the  second  chapter  of  Genesis,  where  the  garden  of 
Eden  is  described,  it  is  said,  *^  And  a  river  went  out 
of  Eden  to  water  the  garden ;  and  from  thence  it  was 
parted,  and  came  into  four  heads :  the  name  of  the 
first  is  Pison,  that  is  it  which  encompasseth  the  whole 
land  of  Havilah,  where  there  is  gold.  And  the  gold 
of  that- land  is  good:  there  is  bdellium  and  onyx- 
stone." 

But  the  most  generally-received  opinion  is,  that 
alchymy  originated  in  Egypt ;  and  the  honour  of  the 
invention  has  been  unanimously  conferred  upon 
Hermes  Trismegistus.  He  is  by  some  supposed  to  be 
the  same  person  with  Chanaan,  the  son  of  Ham, 
whose  son  Mizraim  first  occupied  and  peopled  Egypt. 
Plutarch  informs  us,  that  Egypt  was  sometimes  called 
Chemia.f  This  name  is  supposed  to  be  derived  from 
Chanaan  (fJ^J3);  thence  it  was  believed  that  Cha- 
naan was  the  true  inventor  of  alchymy,  to  which  he 
affixed  his  own  name.  Whether  the  Hermes  ('Bp/i^c) 
of  the  Greeks  was  the  same  person  with  Chanaan  or 
his  son  Mizraim,  it  is  impossible  at  this  distance  of 
time  to  decide ;  but  to  Hermes  is  assigned  the  inven- 
tion of  alchymy,  or  the  art  of  making  gold,  by  almost 
the  unanimous  consent  of  the  adepts. 

Albertus  Magnus  informs  us,  that  ''  Alexfmder  the 
Great  discovered  the  sepulchre  of  Hermes,  in  one  of 
his  journeys,  full  of  all  treasures,  not  metallic,  but 
golden,  written  on  a  table  of  zatadi,  which  others  call 

•  Uwito  iv.22»  t  De bide  and  Osiride,  c. 5. 


I 

10  HISTORY  OF  CHEMISTRY. 

emerald.'^  This  passage  occurs  in  a  tract  of  Albertni 
de  secretu  chemicis,  which  is  considered  as  suppo- 
sititious. Nothing  is  said  of  the  source  whence  the  in' 
formation  contained  in  this  passage  was  drawn :  but 
from  the  quotations  produced  by  Kriegsmann,  i 
would  appear  that  the  existence  of  this  emerald  taU 
was  alluded  to  by  Avicenna  and  other  Arabian  wnten 
According  to  them,  a  woman  called  Sarah  took  i 
from  the  hands  of  the  dead  body  of  Hermes,  som 
ages  after  the  flood,  in  a  cave  near  Hebron.  The  in 
scription  on  it  was  in  the  Phoenician  language.  Th 
following  is  a  literal  translation  of  this  famous  inscri{ 
tion,  from  the  Latin  version  of  Kriegsmann  :* 

1 .  I  speak  not  fictitious  things,  but  what  is  true  ai) 
most  certain. 

*  There  arc  two  Latin  translations  of  these  tables  (unless  i 
iire  rather  to  consider  them  as  originals,  for  no  Phoenician  tt 
Oreek  original  exists).    I  shsdl  insert  them  both  here. 

I. — Verba  secretorum  Hermetis  Trismegisti. 

1.  Verum  sine  mendacio  certum  et  verissimum. 

2.  Quod  est  inferius,  est  sicut  quod  est  superius,  et  qnod< 
luperius  est  sicut  quod  est  inferius  ad  perpetranda  miracul*') 
iinius. 

3.  £t  sicut  omnes  res  fuerant  ab  uno  meditatione  unius :.  i 
omnes  res  nate  fuerunt  ab  hac  una  re  adaptatione.  ■ 

4.  Pater  ejus  est  Sol,  mater  ejus  Luna,  portavit  illud  tcfl 
in  ventre  suo,  nutrix  ejus  terra  est. 

5.  Pater  omnis  theiesmi  totius  mundi  est  hie.  : 

6.  Vis  ejus  integra  est,  si  versa  fuerit  in  terram. 

7.  Separabis  terram  ab  igne,  subtile  a  spisso  suaviter  • 
magno  ingenio. 

8.  Ascendit  a  terra  in  caelum,  iterumque  descendit  in  tend 
et  recipit  vim  superiorum  et  inferiorum,  sic  habebii  gloci 
totius  mundi.  Ideo  fugiat  a  te  omnis  obscuritas. 

9.  Hie  est  totius  fortitudinis  fortitudo  fortii;  quia  ¥k 
omnem  rem  subtilem,  omnemque  solidam  penetrabit. 

10.  Si6  mundus  creatus  est. 

ll.Hinc  adaptationes  erunt  mirabiles,  quamm  modtti 
Ue. 

12.  Itaque  vocatus  sum  Hermes  Trismegistus,  habens  i 
partes  philosophin  totius  mundi. 

13.  Completum  est  quod  dizi  de  operatione  solis. '  <" 


OF  AIiCHTMT*  Jl 

3.  What  it  below  is  like  (hat  which  is  above,  and 
what  is  above  is  similar  to  that  which  is  below,  to  aC"* 
comi^ish  the  miracles  of  one  thing. 

3.  And  as  all  things  were  produced  by  the  medita« 
ti6n  of  one  Being,  so  all  things  were  produced  from 
this  one  thing  by  adaptation. 

4.  Its  father  is  Sol,  its  mother  Luna;  the  wind 
carried  it  in  its  belly,  the  earth  is  its  nurse. 

5.  It  is  the  cause  of  all  perfection  throughout  the 
whole  world. 

6.  lU  power  is  perfect,  if  it  be  changed  into  earth. 

7.  Separate  the  earth  from  the  fire,  the  subtile 
from  the  gross,  acting  prudently  and  with  judgment. 

8.  Ascend  with  the  greatest  sagacity  from  the  earth 

n. — DeSCKIPTIO  AllCANORUM  HERifETiS  T&ISME0I8TI. 

1.  Vere  boh  ficte,  certo  verissime  aio. 

2.  laferiera  httc  cum  superioribus  illis,  istaqne  cum  iis  Ticifisim 
vires  sociant,  ut  producant  rem  unam  omnium  mirificissimam. 

3.  Ac  qnemadmodum  cnncta  educta  ex  uno  fnere  verbo  Dei 
unius :  sic  omn^  quoque  res  perpetuo  ex.  hac  una  re  generantur 
(Uspositione  Nature. 

4.  Patrem  ea  habet  Solem,  matrem  Lunam :  ab  aere  in  utero 
quasi  gestatur,  nutritur  a  terra. 

5.  Causa  omnia  perfectionis  rerum  ea  est  per  unirerum  hoe. 

6.  Ad  Bummam  ipsa  perfectionem  ririum  perrenit  si  redierit 
in  hnmum. 

7.  In  partes  tribuitehumum  ignem  passam,  attenuans  densits^ 
fern  ejus  re  omnium  suavissima. 

8.  Summa  ascende  ingenii  sagacitate  a  terra  in  ccelum,  indeque 
rursum  in  terram  descende,  ac  vires  superiorum  inferiorumqud 
coge  in  unum :  sic  potiere  gloria  totius  mundi  atque  ita  abjecUs 
sortis  homo  amplins  non  habere. 

9.  Isthec  jam  res  ipsa  fortitudine  fortior  existet;  corpora 
^ulppe  tarn  tenuia  quam  solida  penetrando  subige. 

10.  Atque  sic  quidem  qusecunque  mundus  continet  creata  f  uerft. 

11.  Hinc  admtranda  evadunt  opera,  quae  ad  eundum  modum 
instituantur. 

12.  Mihi  vero  ideo  nomen  Hermetis  Trismegisti  impositun^ 
fait,  quod  trium  mondi  s&pientie  partiund  doctor  deprehensus 
ittm. 

13.  Hso  sunt  que  de  chemiciB  artis  pretftantittimo  o|^eif 
iOns%nsiids  ewt  dozL 


14  HISTORY  01*  CHEMISTRY. 

to  heaven^  and  then  again  descend  to  the  earth,  aii( 
unite  together  the  powers  of  things  superior  and  thins 
inferior.  Thus  you  will  possess  the  glory  of  the  who! 
world ;  and  all  obscurity  will  fly  far  away  from  you. 

9.  This  thing  has  more  fortitude  than  fortitude  it 
self;  because  it  will  overcome  every  subtile  thing,  ani 
penetrate  every  solid  thing. 

10.  By  it  this  world  was  formed. 

1 1 .  Hence  proceed  wonderful  things,  which  in  thi 
wise  were  established. 

12.*  For  this  reason  I  am  called  Hermes  Trismerii 
tus,  because  I  possess  three  parts  of  the  philosophy  < 
the  whole  world. 

13.  What  I  had  to  say  about  the  operation  of  iS 
is  completed. 

Such  is  a  literal  translation  of  the  celebrated  ii 
scription  of  Hermes  Trismegistus  upon  the  emeral 
tablet.  It  is  sufficiently  obscure  to  put  it  in  the  pow 
of  commentators  to  affix  almost  any  explanation  to 
that  they  choose.  The  two  individuals  who  have  d* 
voted  most  time  to  illustrate  this  tablet,  are  Krieg 
mann  and  Gerard  Dorneus,  whose  commentaries  mj 
be  seen  in  the  first  volume  of  Mangetus's  Bibliothe 
Chemica.  They  both  agree  that  it  refers  to  the  m 
versal  medicine,  which  began  to  acquire  celebn 
about  the  time  of  Paracelsus,  or  a  little  earlier. 

This  exposition,  which  appears  as  probable  as  tt 
other,  betrays  the  time  when  this  celebrated  insca 
tion  seems  to  have  been  really  written.  Had  it  bj 
taken  out  of  the  hands  of  the  dead  body  of  Hermetl 
Sarah  (obviously  intended  for  the  wife  of  Abraham} 
is  affirmed  by  Avicenna,  it  is  not  possible  that  Heroo 
tus,  and  all  the  writers  of  antiquity,  both  Pagan  ft) 
Christian,  should  have  entirely  overlooked  it;  or  hj 
could  Avicenna  have  learned  what  was  unknown  tO]i{ 
those  who  lived  nearest  the  time  when  the  discovif 
va9  suf^sed  to  have  been  made  ?  Had  it  been  d 
covered  in  Egypt  by  Alexander  the  Great,  woultf 


.  OF  ALCHTMY*  13 

ive  been  unknown  to  Aristotle,  and  to  all  the  nume* 
»U8  tribe  of  writers  whom  the  Alexandrian  school  pro- 
need,  not  one  of  whom,  however,  make  the  least  allu- 
on  to  it  ?  In  short,  it  bears  all  the  marks  of  a  forgery 
f  the  fifteenth  century.  And  even  the  tract  ascribed 
>  Albertus  Ms^us,  in  which  the  tablet  of  Hermes  is 
mentioned,  and  the  discovery  related,  is  probably  also 
forgery;  and  doubtless  a  foi^ery  of  the  same  in- 
ividual  who  fabricated  the  tablet  itself,  in  order  to 
irow  a  greater  air  of  probability  upon  a  story  which 
e  vrished  to  palm  upon  the  world  as  true.  His  ob- 
\ct  was  in  some  measure  accomplished ;  for  the  au- 
lenticity  of  the  tablet  was  supported  with  much  zeal 
y  Kriegsmann,  and  afterwards  by  Olaus  Borrichius. 

There  is  another  tract  of  Hermes  Trismegistus,  en- 
tled  "Tractatus  Aureus  de  Lapidis  PhysiciSecreto;" 
a  which  no  less  elaborate  commentaries  have  been 
Titten.  It  professes  to  teach  the  process  of  making 
le  philosophers  stone ;  and,  from  the  allusions  in  it, 
)  the  use  of  this  stone,  as  a  universal  medicine,  was 
robably  a  forgery  of  the  same  date  as  the  emerald 
iblet.  It  would  be  in  vain  to  attempt  to  extract  any 
ling  intelligible  out  of  this  Tractatus  Aureus :  it  may 
e  worth  while  to  give  a  single  specimen, that  the  reader 
lay  be  able  to  form  some  idea  of  the  nature  of  the  style. 

"  Take  of  moisture  an  ounce  and  a  half;  of  meri- 
ional  redness,  that  is  the  soul  of  the  sun,  a  fourth 
art,  that  is  half  an  ounce ;  of  yellow  seyr,  likewise 
alf  an  ounce ;  and  of  auripigmentum,  a  half  ounce, 
laking  in  all  three  ounces.  Know  that  the  vine  of 
ise  men  is  extracted  in  threes,  and  its  wine  at  last  is 
3mpleted  in  thirty."* 

*  ''  Accipe  de  liumore  unciam  unam  et  mediam,  et  de  rubore 
eridionali,  id  est  anima  solis,  quartam  partem,  id  est,  un» 
am  mediam,  et  de  Seyre  citrino,  similiter  unciam  mediam, 
;  de  anripigmenti  dimidium,  quae  sant  octo,  id  est  uncise  tres. 
ntote  quod  vitis  sapientum  in  tribus  extrahitur,  ejusque^rinum 
fia«  tng^nta  peragitur*'*^ 


14  HISTOftT  or  CHEMIftTRT. 

Had  t&e  opinion,  that  gold  and  silver  could  be  aiw 
tificially  formed  originated  with  Hermes  Trismegistui, 
or  had  it  prevailed  among  the  ancient  Egyptians^  it 
would  certainly  have  been  alluded  to  by  Herodotus, 
who  spent  so  many  years  in  Egypt,  and  was  instructed 
by  the  priests  in  all  the  science  of  the  Egyptians.  Had 
chemistry  been  the  name  of  a  science,  real  or  ficti- 
ttous,  which  existed  as  early  as  the  expedition  of  tha 
Argonauts,  and  had  so  many  treatises  on  it,  as  Suidai 
alleges  existed  In  Egypt  before  the  reign  of  Dioclesian, 
it  could  hardly  have  escaped  the  notice  of  Pliny,  who 
was  so  curious  and  so  indefatigable  in  his  researches, 
and  who  has  collected  in  his  natural  history  a  kind  of 
digest  of  all  the  knowledge  of  the  ancients  in  every 
department  of  practical  science.  The  fiact  that  the 
term  chemistry  (xiififto)  never  occurs  in  any  Greek  or 
Roman  writer  prior  to  Suidas,  who  wrote  so  late  as  th€ 
elevendi  century,  seems  to  overturn  all  idea  of  thf 
existence  of  that  pretended  science  among  the  an- 
cients, notwithstanding  the  elaborate  attempts  o: 
Olaus  Borrichius  to  prove  the  contrary. 

I  am  disposed  to  believe,  that  chemistry  or  alchymy 
understanding  by  the  term  the  art  of  making  goU 
and  silver,   originated  among   the    Arabians,    whei 
they  began  to  turn  their  attention  to  medicine,  aftc 
the  establishment  of  the  caliphs ;  or  if  it  had  previ 
ously  been  cultivated  by  Greeks  (as  the  writings  i 
Zosimus,  the  Panapolite,  if  genuine,  would  lead  us  t 
suppose),  that  it  was  taken  up  by  the  Arabians,  an 
reduced  by    them    into   regular    form    and  orde 
If  the  works  of  Geber  be  genuine,  they  leave  litt 
doubt  on  this  point.     Geber  is  supposed  to  have  bei 
a  physician,  and  to  have  written  in  the  seventh  ce: 
tury.     He  admits,  as  a  first  principle,  that  metals  a 
compounds  of  mercury  and  sulphur.     He  talks  of  t 
philosopher's  stone ;  professes  to  give  the  mode  of  pi 
paring  it;  and  teaches  the  way  of  converting  t 
different  xnetals;  known  in  his  time,  into  medicinesi 


or  ALCHTMT.  15 

wbme  efficacy  he  bestowt  the  most  ample  panegyrics* 
ThuB  the  principles  which  lie  at  the  bottom  of  alchymy 
were  implicitly  adopted  by  him.  Yet  I  can  nowhere 
find  in  him  any  attempt  to  make  gold  artificially.  His 
ehemistiy  was  entirely  devoted  to  the  improvement  of 
medicine..  The  subsequent  pretensions  of  the  alchy- 
milts  to  convert  the  baser  metals  into  gold  are  no 
where  avowed  by  him.  I  am  disposed  from  this  to 
suipecty  that  the  theory  of  gold-making  was  started 
aftor  Qeber's  time,  or  at  least  that  it  was  aftecJthe 
Hgrenth  centory,  before  any  alchymist  ventured  to 
imSrm  that  he  himself  was  in  possession  of  the  secret, 
and  could  fabricate  gold  artificially  at  pleasure.  For 
there  is  a  wide  distance  between  the  opinion  that  gold 
may  be  made  artificially  and  the  affirmation  that  we 
are  in  possession  of  a  method  by  which  this  transmu* 
tation  of  the  baser  metals  into  gold  can  be  accom- 
plished. The  first  nray  be  adopted  and  defended  with 
much  plausibility  and  perfect  honesty ;  but  the  second 
would  require  a  degree  of  skill  far  exceeding  that  of 
the  most  scientific  votary  of  chemistry  at  present 
existing. 

The  opinion  of  the  alchymists  was,  that  all  the  me-* 
tals  are  compounds;  that  the  baser  metals  contain 
the  same  constituents  as  gold,  contaminated,  indeed , 
with  various  impurities,  but  capable,  when  their  im.- 
purities  are  removed  or  remedied,  of  assuming  all  the 
properties  and  characters  of  gold.  The  substance 
possessing  this  wonderful  power  they  distinguish  by 
the  name  of  Iqpi&^philosopkorum,  or,  philosopher's 
stone,  and  they  usually  describe  it  as  a  red  powder, 
havinff  a  peculiar  smell.  Few  of  the  alchymists  who 
have  left  writings  behind  them  boast  of  being  pos- 
•ened  of  the  philosopher's  stone.  Paracelsus,  indeed, 
affirms,  that  he  was  acquainted  with  the  method  of 
making  it,  and  gives  several  processes,  which,  how- 
ertTy  wte  not  intdlligible.    But  many  affirm  that  they 


16  HISTORY  OP  CHEMISTRY. 

had  seen  tbe  philosopher's  stone ;  that  they  had  poir-' 
tions  of  it  in  their  possession  ;  and  that  they  had  seen 
several  of  the  inferior  metals,  especially  lead  and 
quicksilver,  converted  by  means  of  it  into  gold.  Many 
stories  of  this  kind  are  upon  record,  and  so  well  au- 
thenticated, that  we  need  not  be  surprised  at  th^ 
having  been  generally  credited.  It  will  be  sufficient 
if  we  state  one  or  two  of  those  which  depend  upon 
the  most  unexceptionable  evidence.  The  following 
relation  is  given  by  Mangetus,  on  the  authority  of 
M.  Gros,  a  clergyman  of  Greneva,  of  the  most  un- 
exceptionable character,  and  at  the  same  time  a  skil^ 
ful  physician  and  expert  chemist : 

About  the  year  1650  an  unknown  Italian  came  to 
Geneva,  and  took  lodgings  at  the  sigif  of  the  Cfreen 
Cross.     After  remaining  there  a  day  or  two,  he  re- 
quested De  Luc,  the  landlord,  to  procure  him  a  man 
acquainted  with  Italian,  to  accompany  him  through 
the  town  and  point  out  those  things  which  deserved  t< 
be  examined.     De  Luc  was  acquainted  with  M.  Gros 
at  that  time  about  twenty  years  of  age,  and  a  studen 
in  Geneva,  and  knowing  his  proficiency  in  the  Italiai 
language,  requested  him  to  accompany  the  strangei 
To  this  proposition  he  willingly  acceded,  and  attende 
the  Italian  every  where  for  the  space  of  a  fortnigh 
The  stranger  now  began  to  complain  of  wantof  mone; 
which   alarmed  M.   Gros  not  a  little — for  at  thj 
time  he  was  very  poor — and  he  became  apprehensiv 
from  the  tenour  of  the  stranger's  conversation,  that  I 
intended  to  ask  the  loan  of  money  from  him.     B 
instead  of  this,  the  Italian  asked  him  if  he  was  a 
quainted  with  any  goldsmith,  whose  bellows  and  ott 
utensils  they  might  be  permitted  to  use,   and  w 
would  not  refuse  to  supply  them  with  the  difierc 
articles  requisite  for  a  particular  process  which 
wanted  to  perform.     M.  Gros  named  a  M.  Bureau, 
"^hom  the  Italian  immediately  repaired.    He  read 


OF  ALCHTMY.  17 

fiimished  crucibles,  pure  tin,  quicksilver,  and  the 
other  things  required  by  the  Italian.  The  goldsmith 
left  his  workshop,  that  the  Italian  might  be  under  the 
less  restraint,  leaving  M.  Gros,  with  one  of  his  own 
workmen,  asi  an  attendant.  The  Italian  put  a  quantity 
of  tin  into  one  crucible,  and  a  quantity  of  quicksilver 
into  another.  The  tin  was  melted  in  the  fire  and  the 
mercury  .heated.  It  was  then  poured  into  the  melted 
tin,  and  at  the  same  time  a  red  powder  enclosed  in  wax 
was  projected  into  the  amalgam.  An  agitation  took 
place,  and  a  great  deal  of  smoke  was  exhaled  from 
the  crucible;  but  this  speedily  subsided,  and  the 
whole  being  poured  out,  formed  six  heavy  ingots, 
having  the  colour  of  gold.  The  goldsmith  was  called 
in  by  the  Italian,  and  requested  to  make  a  rigid  exa- 
mination of  the  smallest  of  these  ingots.  The  gold- 
smith, not  content  with  the  touchstone  and  the  appli- 
cation of  aqua  fortis,  exposed  the  metal  on  the  cupel 
with  lead,  and  fused  it  with  antimony,  but  it  sus- 
tained no  loss.  He  found  it  possessed  of  the  ducti- 
lity and  specific  gravity  of  gold  ;  and  full  of  admira- 
tion, he  exclaimed  that  he  had  never  worked  before 
upon  gold  so  perfectly  pure.  The  Italian  made  him  a 
present  of  the  smallest  ingot  as  a  recompence,  and 
then,  accompanied  by  M.  Gros,  he  repaired  to  the 
Mint,  where  he  received  from  M.  Bacuet,  the  mint- 
master,  a  quantity  of  Spanish  gold  coin,  equal  in 
weight  to  the  ingots  which  he  had  brought.  To  M. 
Gros  he  made  a  present  of  twenty  pieces,  on  account 
of  the  attention  that  he  had  paid  to  him ;  and,  after 
paying  his  bill  at  the  inn,  he  added  fifteen  pieces 
more,  to  serve  to  entertain  M.  Gros  and  M.  Bureau 
for  some  days,  and  in  the  mean  time  he  ordered  a 
supper,  that  he  might,  on  his  return,  have  the  plea- 
sure of  supping  with  these  two  gentlemen.  He  went 
out,  but  never  returned,  leaving  behind  him  the 
greatest  regret  and  admiration.  It  is  needless  to  add, 
that  M.  Gros  and  M.  Bureau  continued  tx)  eiv^o^ 

YOZ,  I.  c 


I 

r 


HISTORY  OP  CHEMISTKT. 

themselves  at  the  ina  tilt  the  fifteen  pieces,  which  tJ 
Blranger  had  left,  were  exhausted."* 

Mangetus  gives  also  the  following  relation,  which  h^H 
states  upon  the  authority  of  aa  English  bishop,  whol 
communicated  it  to  him  in  the  year  1635,  aad  at  thfi 
same  time  gave  him  about  half  an  ounce  of  the  gold 
which  the  alchymist  had  made  :  ^ 

A  stranger,  meanly  dressed,  went  to  Mr.  Boyle,  aii<ij 
after  coDversing  for  some  time  about  chemical  pro 
cesses,  requested  him  to  furnish  him  with  antimonyjl 
and  some  other  common  metallic  substances,  whicfaf 
then  fortunately  happened  to  be  in  Mr.  Boyle's  la 
latory.     These  were  put  into  a  crucible,  which  i 
then  placed  in  a  melting-furnace.     As  soon  as  thea 
metals  were  fused,  the  stranger  showed  a  powder 
attendants,  which  he  projected  into  the  crucible,  aDtU 
instantly  went  out,  directing  the  servants  to  allow  tl 
crucible  to  remain  in  the  furnace  till  the  fire  went  o' 
of  its  own  accord,  and  promising  at  the  same  time  t4 
return  in  a  few  hours.     But,  as  he  never  fulfilled  thi^ 
promise,  Boyle  ordered  the  cover  to  be  taken  off  tht 
crucible,  and  found  that  it  contained  a  yellow-coloure| 
metal,  possessing  all  the  properties  of  pure  gold,  and 
only  a  little  lighter  than  the  weight  of  the  materiali 
originally  put  into  the  crucible. f 

The  following  strange  story  is  related  by  Helvetius 
physician  to  the  Prince  of  Orange, in  hisVitulusAuretw 
Helvetius  was  a  disbeliever  of  the  philosopher's  stone 
and  the  universal  medicine,  and  even  turned  Si 
Kenelm  Digby's  sympathetic  powder  into  ridicule 
On  the  27th  of  December,  1666,  a  stranger  caJla 
upon  him,  and  after  conversing  for  some  time  about 
universal  medicine,  showed  a  yellow  powder,  which  I 
affirmed  to  be  the  philosopher's  stone,  and  at  the  san 
time  five  large  plates  of  gold,  which  had  been  mat 


or  ALCHTMY.  19 

by  means  of  it.  Helvetius  earnestly  entreated  that  he 
would  give  him  a  little  of  this  powder,  or  at  least  that 
he  would  make  a  trial  of  its  power ;  but  the  stranger 
refbsedy  promising  however  to  return  in  six  weeks.  He 
returned  accordingly,  and  after  much  entreaty  he  gave 
to  Helvetius  a  piece  of  the  stone,  not  larger  than  the 
size  of  a  rape-seed.  When  Helvetius  expressed  his 
doubt  whether  so  small  a  portion  would  be  sufficient 
to  convert  four  grains  of  lead  into  gold,  the  adept 
broke  off  one  half  of  it,  and  assured  him  that  what 
remained  was  more  than  sufficient  for  the  purpose. 
Helvetius,  during  the  first  conference,  had  concealed 
a  little  of  the  stone  below  his  nail.  This  he  threw  into 
melted  lead,  but  it  was  almost  all  driven  off  in  smoke, 
leaving  only  a  vitreous  earth.  When  he  mentioned 
this  circumstance,  the  stranger  informed  him  that  the 
powder  must  be  enclosed  in  wax,  before  it  be  thrown 
into  the  melted  lead,  lest  it  should  be  injured  by  the 
smoke  of  the  lead.  The  stranger  promised  to  return 
next  day,  and  show  him  the  method  of  making  the 
projection ;  but  having  failed  to  make  his  appearance, 
Helvetius,  in  the  presence  of  his  wife  and  son,  put  six 
drachms  of  lead  into  a  crucible,  and  as  soon  as  it  was 
melted  he  threw  into  it  the  fragment  of  philosopher's 
stone  in  his  possession,  previously  covered  over  with 
wax.  The  crucible  was  now  covered  with  its  lid,  and 
left  for  a  quarter  of  an  hour  in  the  fire,  at  the  end  of 
which  time  he  found  the  whole  lead  converted  into 
gold.  The  colour  was  at  first  a  deep  green  ;  being 
poured  into  a  conical  vessel,  it  assumed  a  blood-red 
colour;  but  when  cold,  it  acquired  the  true  tint  of 
gold.  Being  examined  by  a  goldsmith,  he  considered 
it  as  pure  gold.  He  requested  Porelius,  who  had  the 
charge  of  the  Dutch  mint,  to  try  its  value.  Two 
drachms  of  it  being  subjected  to  quartation,  and  solu- 
tion in  aqua  fortis,  were  found  to  have  increased  in 
weight  by  two  scruples.  This  increase  was  doubtless 
owing  to  the  silver,  which  still  remained  enveloped  in 

c  2 


20  HISTORY  OF  CHEMISTRY. 

the  goldy  after  the  action  of  the  aqua  fortis.  To  en- 
deavour to  separate  the  silver  more  completely,  the 
gold  was  again  fused  with  seven  times  its  weight  of 
antimony,  and  treated  in  the  usual  manner;  but  no 
alteration  took  place  in  the  weight.* 

It  would  be  easy  to  relate  many  other  similar  nar- 
ratives ;  but  the  three  which  I  have  given  are  the  best 
authenticated  of  any  that  I  am  acquainted  with.  The 
reader  will  observe,  that  they  are  all  stated  on  the 
authority,  not  of  the  persons  who  were  the  actors,  but 
of  others  to  whom  they  related  them ;  and  some  of 
these,  as  the  English  bishop,  perhaps  not  very  familiar 
with  chemical  processes,  and  therefore  liable  to  leave 
out  or  mistate  some  essential  particulars.  The  evi- 
dence, therefore,  though,  the  best  that  can  be  got,  is 
not  sufficient  to  authenticate  these  wonderful  stories. 
A  little  latent  vanity  might  easily  induce  the  narrators 
to  suppress  or  alter  some  particulars,  which,  if  known, 
would  have  stripped  the  statements  of  every  tiling  mar- 
vellous which  they  contain,  and  let  us  into  the  secret 
of  the  origin  of  the  gold,  which  these  alchymists 
boasted  that  they  had  fabricated.  Whoever  will  read 
the  statements  of  Paracelsus,  respecting  his  knowledge 
of  the  philosopher's  stone,  which  he  applied  not  to  the 
formation  of  gold  but  to  medicine,  or  whoever  will 
examine  his  formulas  for  making  the  stone,  will  easil] 
satisfy  himself  that  Paracelsus  possessed  no  real  know- 
ledge on  the  subject.f 

But  to  convey  as  precise  ideas  on  this  subject  ai 
possible,  it  may  be  worth  while  ta  state  a  few  of  thi 
methods  by  which  the  alchymists  persuaded  themselve 
that  they  could  convert  the  baser  metals  into  gold. 

In  the  year  1694  an  old  gentleman  called  upoi 
Mr.  Wilson,  at  that  time  a  chemist  in  London,  bxu 
informed  him  that  at  last,  after  forty  years'  seatch,  h 

*  Bergmann,  Opusc.  ir.  121. 

t  I  allude  to  his  Manuals  sive  de  Lapide  PhUosophico  Medie\ 
»a/g.    Opera  ParaceJsi,  ii.  133.    Folio  edition.  Geneva,  1Q58. 


OF   ALCHYMV.  21 

had  met  with  an  ample  recompence  for  all  his  trouble 
and  expenses.  This  he  confirmed  with  some  oaths 
and  imprecations ;  but,  considering  his  great  weakness 
and  age,  he  looked  upon  himself  as  incapable  to  un- 
dergo the  fatigues  of  the  process.  "  I  have  here," 
says  he,  "  a  piece  of  sol  (gold)  that  I  made  from 
silver,  about  four  years  ago,  and  I  cannot  trust  any 
man  but  you  with  so  rare  a  secret.  We  will  share 
equally  the  charges  and  profit,  which  will  render  us 
wealthy  enough  to  command  the  world."  The  nature 
of  the  process  being  stated,  Mr.  Wilson  thought  it  not 
unreasonable,  especially  as  he  aimed  at  no  peculiar 
advantage  for  himself.  He  accordingly  put  it  to  the 
trial  in  the  following  manner: 

1 .  Twelve  ounces  of  Japan  copper  were  beat  into 
thin  plates,  and  laid  stratum  super  stratum  with  thi'ee 
ounces  of  flowers  of  sulphur,  in  a  crucible.  It  was 
exposed  in  a  melting-furnace  to  a  gentle  heat,  till  the 
sulphureous  flames  expired.  When  cold,  the  «es  ustum 
(sulphuret  of  copper)  was  pounded,  and  stratified 
again ;  and  this  process  was  repeated  fi^Q  times.  Mr. 
Wilson  does  not  inform  us  whether  the  powder  was  mixed 
with  flowers  of  sulphur  every  time  that  it  was  heated ; 
but  this  must  have  been  the  case,  otherwise  the  sul-. 
phuret  would  have  been  again  converted  into  metallic 
copper,  which  would  have  melted  into  a  mass.  By 
this  first  process,  then,  bisulphuret  of  copper  was  formed, 
composed  of  equal  weights  of  sulphur  and  copper. 

2.  Six  pounds  .of  iron  wire  were  put  into  a  large 
glass  body,  and  twdve  pounds  of  muriatic  acid  poured 
upon  it.  Six  days  elapsed  (during  which  it  stood  in 
a  gentle  heat)  before  the  acid  was  saturated  with  the 
iron.  The  solution  was  then  decanted  off,  and  filtered, 
and  six  pounds  of  new  muriatic  acid  poured  on  the 
undissolved  iron.  This  acid,  after  standing  a  sufficient 
time,  was  decanted  off,  and  filtered.  Both  liquids 
were  ppt  into  a  large  retort,  and  distilled  by  a  sand- 
heat.    Towards  the  end,  when  the  drops  fcoia  l\ift 


Hi  HISTORY   OP   CHEMISTRY. 

new  vinegax;  agitate  again,  and  continue  these  re^ 
peated  agitations  and  additions  till  the  vinegar  ceases 
to  acquire  a  black  colour  from  the  mercury :  the  mer 
cury  is  now  quite  pure  and  very  brilliant. 

4.  Take  of  this  mercury  four  parts;  of  sublimed 
mercury*  {mercuHi  meteoresati),  prepared  with  your 
own  hands,  eight  parts;  triturate  them  together  in  a 
wooden  mortar  with  a  wooden  pestle,  till  all  the  grains 
of  running  mercury  disappear.  This  process  is  tedious 
and  rather  difficult. 

4.  The  mixture  thus  prepared  is  to  be  put  into  an 
aludel,  or  a  sand-bath,  and  exposed  to  a  subliming 
heat,  which  is  to  be  gradually  raised  till  the  whole 
sublimes.  Collect  the  sublimed  matter,  put  it  again 
into  the  aludel,  and  sublime  a  second  time ;  this  pro- 
cess must  be  repeated  five  times.  Thus  a  very  sweet 
and  crystallized  sublimate  is  obtained :  it  constitutes 
the  salt  of  wise  men  {sal  sapientum),  and  possesses^ 
wonderful  properties. f  ^ 

5.  Grind  it  in  a  wooden  mortar,  and  reduce  it  tb^ 
powder ;  put  it  into  a  glass  retort,  and  pour  upon  it 
the  spirit  of  wine  (No.  1)  till  it  stands  about  three-* 
finger-breadths  above  the  powder ;  seal  the  retoit^ 
hermetically,  and  expose  it  to  a  very  gentle  heat  fot( 
seventy- four  hours,  shaking  it  several  times  a-dayj' 
then  distil  with  a  gentle  heat  and  the  spirit  of  win^ 
will  pass  over,  together  with  spirit  of  mercury.  Ket 
this  liquid  in  a  well-stopped  bottle,  lest  it  shoi 
evaporate.  More  spirit  of  wine  is  to  be  poured  ii| 
the  residual  salt,  and  after  digestion  it  must  be  dial 
tilled  off  as  before  ;  and  this  process  must  be  repes 
till  the  whole  salt  is  dissolved,  and  distilled  over  wi 
the  spirit  of  wine.  You  have  now  performed  a 
work.  The  mercury  is  now  rendered  in  some  measi 
volatile,  and  it  will  gradually  become  fit  to  receive  thf 
tincture  of  gold  and  silver.     Now  return  thanks  |j| 

*  Probably  connive  subUmtte.  f  Probably  ealoihel.  ^ 


OF  ALCHTMT.  26 

Qody  who  has  hitherto  crowned  yonr  wonderful  work 
with  success ;  nor  is  this  great  work  involved  in  Cim- 
merian darkness,  but  clearer  than  the  sun;  though 
preceding  writers  have  imposed  upon  us  with  parables, 
hieroglyphics,  fables,  and  enigmas. 

6.  Take  this  mercurial  spirit,  which  contains  out 
magical  steel  in  its  belly,  put  it  into  a  glass  retort,  to 
which  a  receiver  must  be  well  and  carefully  luted: 
draw  off  the  spirit  by  a  very  gentle  heat,  there  will 
remain  in  the  bottom  of  the  retort  the  quintessence  or 
soul  of  mercury ;  this  is  to  be  sublimed  by  applying  a 
stronger  heat  to  the  retort  that  it  may  become  volatile, 
as  all  the  philosophers  express  themselves — 

Si  fixum  solvas  faciesqae  volare  solutum, 
£t  volncrnm  figas  faciet  te  vivere  tutnm. 

This  is  our  luna,  our  fountain,  in  which  the  king  and 
queen  may  bathe.  Preserve  this  precious  quintessence 
of  mercury,  which  is  very  volatile,  in  a  well-shut  ves^ 
«el  for  further  use. 

8.  Let  us  now  proceed  to  the  operation  of  common 
gold,  which  we  shall  communicate  clearly  and  dis- 
tinctly, without  digression  or  obscurity;  that  from  vul- 
gar gold  we  may  obtain  our  philosophical  gold,  just  as 
from  common  mercury  we  obtained,  by  the  preceding 
processes,  philosophical  mercury. 

in  the  name  of  God,  then,  take  common  gold,  pu- 
rified in  the  usual  way  by  antimony,  convert  it  into 
small  grains,  which  must  be  washed  with  salt  and  vine- 
gar, till  it  be  quite  pure.  Take  one  part  of  this  gold, 
and  pour  on  it  three  parts  of  the  quintessence  of  mer- 
cury ;  as  philosophers  reckon  from  seven  to  ten,  so  we 
also  reckon  our  number  as  philosophical,  and  we  begin 
with  three  and  one ;  let  them  be  married  together  like 
husband  and  wife,  to  produce  children  of  their  own 
kind,  and  you  will  see  the  common  gold  sink  and 
plainly  dissolve.  Now  the  marriage  is  consummated ; 
now  two  things  are  converted  into  one ;  thus  the  phi- 


26  HISTOET  OF  CHEanSTUT. 

losophical  sulphur  is  at  hand,  as  the  philosophers  say, 
the  sulphur  being  dissolved  the  stone  is  at   hand. 
Take  then,  in  the  name  of  God,  our  philosophical  ves- 
sel, in  which  the  king  and  qteen  embrace  each  other 
as  in  a  bedchamber,  and  leave  it  till  the  wStter  is  con- 
verted into  earth,  then  peace  is  concluded  between 
the  water  and  fire,  then  the  elements  have  no  longer 
anything  contrary  to  each  other;  because,  when  the 
elements  are  converted  into  earth  they  no  longer  op- 
pose each  other ;  for  in  earth  all  elements  are  at  rest. 
For  the  philosophers  say,  "  When  you  shall  hav6  seen 
the  water  coagulate  itself,  think  that  your  knowledge 
is  true,  and  that  your  operations  are  truely  philoso* 
phical."    The  gold  is  now  no  longer  common,  but 
ours  is  philosophical,  on  account  of  our  processes :  a1 
first  exceedingly  fixed ;  then  exceedingly  volatile,  anc 
finally  exceedingly  fixed ;  and  the  whole  science  de 
pends  upon  the  change  of  the  elements.     The  gold  a 
first  was  a  metal,  now  it  is  a  sulphur,  capable  of  cod 
verting  all  metals  into  its  own  sulphur.     Now  oo 
tincture  is  wholly  converted  into  sulphur,  which  pof 
sesses  the  energy  of  curing  all  diseases :  this  is  oc 
universal  medicine  against  all  the  most  deplorab 
diseases  of  the  human  body ;  therefore,  return  infinr 
thanks  to  Almighty  God  for  all  the  good  things  whk 
he  has  bestowed  upon  us. 

9.  In  this  great  work  of  ours,  two  modes  of  U 
menting  and  projecting  are  wanting,  without  whidi  t 
uninitiated  will  not  easily  follow  our  process.    T 
mode  of  fermenting  is  as  follows :  Take  of  our  sulpl) 
above  described  one  part,  and  project  it  upon  ^ 
parts  of  very  pure  gold  fused  in  a  furnace ;  in  a  b 
ment  you  will  see  the  gold,  by  the  force  of  the  sulpb 
converted  into  a  red  sulphur  of  an  inferior  quality 
the  first  sulphur ;  take  one  part  of  this,  and  projec 
upon  three  parts  of  fused  gold,  the  whole  will  be  ag 
converted  into  a  sulphur,  or  a  friable  mass;  mix 
one  partofthiswiththreepartoof  gold^  you  will  li 


OF  AXCHTKT.  "       T  Vfl 

Aindkable  and  extensible  metal.  If  you  find  it  so, 
•well ;  if  not  add  other  sulphur  and  it  will  again  pass  into 
isulphur.  Now  the  sulphur  will  be  sufficiently  ferment- 
led,  or  our  medicine  will  be  brought  into  a  metallic 
jas^ure.  t:  . 

IQ.  The  mode  of  projecj^ijig  is  this :  Take  of  tbe  fer- 
.mented  sulphur  one  part,  and  project  it  upon  ten. parts 
of  mtilreury,  heated  in  a  crucible,  and  you  will  have  a 
4terlbct. metal;  if  its  colour  is  not  sufficiently  deep, 
.fttfte;it  "again,  and  add  more  fermented  sulphur,  and 
thusjitjwill  acquire  colour.  If  it  becomes  frangible, 
add  a  sufficient  quantity  of  mercury  and  it  will  be 
•perfect. 

Thus,  friend,  you  have  a  description  of  the  universal 
medicine,  not  only  for  curing  diseases  and  prolonging 
life,  but  also  for  transmuting  all  metals  into  gold. 
Give  therefore  thanks  to  Almighty  God,  who,  tsiin^ 
pity  on  human  calamities,  has  at  last  revealed  this 
inestimable  treasure,  and  made  it  known  for  the  com- 
mon benefit  of  all.* 

Such  is  the  formula  (slightly  abridged)  of  Carolus 
Musitanus,  by  which  the  philosopher's  stone,  according 
to  him,  may  be  formed.  Compared  with  the  formulas 
of  most  of  the  alchymists,  it  is  sufficiently  plain. 
What  the  sublimed  mercury  is  does  not  appear ;  from 
the  process  described  we  should  be  apt  to  consider  it 
as  corrosive  sublimate ;  on  that  supposition,  the  sal 
Bapientum  formed  in  No.  5,  would  be  calomel :  the 
only  objection  to  this  supposition  is  the  process  de- 
scribed in  No.  5;  for  calomel  is  not  soluble  in  alcohol. 
The  philosopher's  stone  prepared  by  this  elaborate 
process  could  hardly  have  been  any  thing  else  than  an 
amalgam  of  gold;  it  could  not  have  contained  chlo- 
ride of  gold,  because  such  a  preparation,  instead  of 
acting  medicinally,  would  have  proved  a  most  virulent 
poison.     There  is  no  doubt  that  amalgam  of  gold,  if 

'  •  Mangtti  Bibllothec«  Chemics  Pr»&tio. 


28  HISTORY   OF   CHEMISTRY. 

projected  into  melted  lead  or  tin,  and  afterwards  cu- 
pellated,  would  leave  a  portion  of  gold — all  the  gold  of 
course  that  existed  previously  in  the  amalgam.  It 
might  therefore  have  been  employed  by  impostors  to 
persuade  the  ignorant  that  it  was  really  the  philoso- 
pher's stone;  but  the  alchymists  who  prepared  the 
amalgam  could  not  be  ignorant  that  it  contained  gold. 

There  is  another  process  given  in  the  same  preface 
of  a  very  different  nature,  but  too  long  to  be  tran- 
scribed here,  and  the  nature  of  the  process  is  not  suf- 
ficiently intelligible  to  render  an  account  of  it  of  much 
consequence.* 

The  preceding  obseiTations  will  give  the  reader  some 
notion  of  the  nature  of  the  pursuits  which  occupied  the 
alchymists :  their  sole  object  was  the  preparation  of  la 
substance  to  which  they  gave  the  name  of  the  philoso- 
pher's stone,  which  possessed  the  double  property  oj 
converting  the  baser  metals  into  gold,  and  of  curing  al^ 
diseases,  and  of  preserving  human  life  to  an  indefinite 
extent.     The  experiments  of  Wilson,  and  the  formulj 
of  Musitanus,  which  have  .been  just  inserted,  will  givi 
the  reader  some  notion  of  the  way  in  which  they  at 
tempted  to  manufacture  this  most  precious  substance 
Being  quite  ignorant  of  the  properties  of  bodies,  an 
of  their  action  on  each  other,  their  processes  wei 
guided  by  no  scientific  analogies,  and  one  part  of  tl 
labour  not  unfrequently  counteracted  another;  itwoul 
be  a  waste  of  time,  therefore,  to  attempt  to  analyze  the 
numerous  processes,  even  though  such  an  attem' 
could  be  attended  with  success.     But  in  most  cas^ 
from  the  unintelligible  terms  in  which  their  books  a 

*  Whoever  wishes  to  enter  more  particularly  into  the  pi 
cesses  for  making  the  philosopher's  stone  contrived  by  the 
chymists,  will  find  a  good  deal  of  information  on  the  subject 
Stahl's  Fundamenta  Chemiss,  vol.  i.  p.  219,  in  his  chapter 
lapide  philosophorum :  and  Junker's  Conspectus  Chemise,  i 
i.  p.  604,  in  his  tabula  28,  De  transmutatione  metallorum  nmt 
tali/  and. tabula  29,  De  transmutatione  metaUonOn particut 


OP  ALCHYMT.  /        29. 

written,  it  is  impossible  to  divine  the  nature  of  the 
processes  by  which  they  endeavoured  to  manufacture 
the  philosopher*s  stone,  or  the  nature  of  the  sub- 
stances which  they  obtained.* 

In  consequence  of  the  universality  of  the  opinion 
that  gold  could  be  made  by  art,  there  was  a  set  of 
impostors  who  went  about  pretending  that  they  were 
in  possession  of  the  philosopher's  stone,  and  offering 
to  communicate  the  secret  of  making  it  for  a  suit- 
able reward.     Nothing  is  more  astonishing  than  that 
persons  should  be  found  credulous  enough  to  be  the 
dupes  of  such  impostors.     The  very  circumstance  of 
their  claiming  a  reward  was  a  sufficient  proof  that 
they  were  ignorant  of  the  secret  which  they  pretended 
to  reveal ;  for  what  motive  could  a  man  have  for  ask- 
ing a  reward  who  was  in  possession  of  a  method  of 
creating  gold  at  pleasure?    To  such  a  person  money 
could  be  no  object,  as  he  could  procure  it  in  any 
quantity.     Yet,  strange  as  it  may  appear,  they  met 
with  abundance  of  dupes  credulous  enough  to  believe 
their  asseverations,  and  to  supply  them  with  money 
to  enable  them  to  perform  the  wished-for  processes. 
The  object  of  these  impostors  was  either  to  pocket  the 
money  thus  furnished,  or  they  made  use  of  it  to  pur- 
chase various  substances  from  which  they  extracted 
oils,    acids,  or  similar    products,    which  they  were 
enabled  to  sell  at  a  profit.     To  keep  the  dupes,  who 
thus  supplied  them  with  the  means  of  carrying  on 
these  processes,  in  good  spirits,  it  was  necessary  to 
show  them  occasionally  small  quantities  of  the  baser 
metals  converted  into  gold ;  this  they  performed  in 
various  ways.     M.  Geoffroy,  senior,  who  had  an  op- 
portunity of  witnessing  many  of  their  performances, 

•  Kircher,  in  his  Mundus  Subterraneus,  has  an  article  on  the 
philosopher's  stone,  in  which  he  examines  the  processes  of  the 
Schymists,  points  out  their  absurdity,  and  proves  by  irrefrag- 
able arg:unients  that  no  such  substance  had  ever  been  obtained. 
Those  who  are  curious  about  alcbymistical  processes  may  con- 
sult that  work. 


30  '  HISTOET  OF  CHEMISTRY. 

has  given  us  an  account  of  a  number  of  their  tricks*  It 
may  be  worth  while  to  state  a  few  by  way  of  specimen. 

Sometimes  tliey  made  use  of  crucibles  with  a  falser 
bottom ;  at  the  real  bottom  they  put  a  quantity  of 
oxide  of  gold  or  silver,  this  was  covered  with  a  portion 
of  powdered  crucible  ^  glued  together  by  a  littler- 
gummed  water  or  a  little  wax ;  the  materials  being  put 
mto  this  crucible,  and  heat  applied,  the  false  bottom: 
disappears,  the  oxide«of  gold  or  silver  is  reduced,  and 
at  the  end  of  the:pcocess  is  found  at  the  bottom  of 
the  crucible,  and  considered  as  the  product  of  the 
operation. 

Sometimes  they  make  a  hole  in  a  piece  of  charcoal: 
and  fill  it  with  oxide  of  gold  or  silver,  and  stop  up 
the  mouth  with  a  little  wax;  or  they  soak  charcoal  iir 
solutions  of  these  metals ;  or  they  stir  the  mixtures  im 
the  crucible  with  hollow  rods  containing  oxide  of  gold 
or  silver  within,  and  the  bottom  shut  with  wax :  by  theaa 
means  the  gold  or  silver  wanted  is  introduced  during  th« 
process,  and  considered  as  a  product  of  the  operation, 

Sometimes  they  have  a  solution  of  silver  in  nitric 
acid,  or  of  gold  in  aqua  regia,  or  an  amalgam  of  goW 
or  silver,  which  being  adroitly  introduced,  fomishei 
the  requisite  quantity  of  metal.     A  common  exhibitioi 
was  to  dip  nails  into  a  liquid,  and  take  them  out  half  con 
verted  into  gold.    The  nails  consisted  of  one-half  gold 
neatly  soldered  to  the  iron,  and  covered  with  somethin 
to  conceal   the   colour,  which  the   liquid  removec 
Sometimes  they  had  metals  one-half  gold  the  oth< 
half  silver,  soldered  together,  and  the  gold  side  whitenc 
with  mercury ;  the  gold  half  was  dipped  into  the  tran 
muting  liquid  and  then  the  metal  heated ;  the  merctt 
was  dissipated,  and  the  gold  half  of  the  metal  a; 
peared.* 

As  the  alchymists  were  assiduous  workmen —  as  th 
mixed  all  the  metals,  salts,  &;c.  with  which  they  w 

•  Afem.  Paris,  1722,  p.  61. 


•cqntiinted,  in  t^ohs  ways  with  each  other,  and  sub- 
jected such  mixtures  to  the  action  of  heat  in  close 
TCflsels,  their  labours  were  occasionally  repaid  by  the 
discovery  of  new  substances,  possessed  of  much  ^ater 
ftctivity  than   any  with  which  they  were  previously 
Bcquain^.     In  this  way  they  were  led  to  the  dis- 
,    covery  of  sulphuric,  nitric,  and  muriatic  acids.    These, 
when  known,  were  made  to  act  upon  the  metals  ;  aolu- 
Uons  of  the  metals  were  obtained,  and  this  gradually 
'    led  to  the  knowledge  of  various  metalline  salts  and 
'     preparations,  which  were  introduced  with  considerable 
'     advantage  into  medicine.      Thus  the  alchymists,  by 
J    their  absurd  pursuits,  gradually  formed  a  collection  of 
I     facts,   which  led  ultimately  to  the  establishment  of 
scientific  chemistry.    On  this  account  it  will  be  proper 
to  notice,  in  this  place,  such  of  them  as  appeared  in 
£urope   during  the  darker  ages,   and   acquired  the 
.    highest  reputation  either  on  account  of  their  skill  as 
physicians,  or  their  celebrity  as  chemists.  * 

1.  The  first  alchymist  who  deserves  notice  is  Alber- 
tus  Magnus,  or  Albert  Groot,  a  German,  who  was 
bom,  it  is  supposed,  in  the  year  1193,  at  BoUstaedt, 
and  died  in  the  year  1282. f  When  very  young  he  is 
said  to  have  been  so  remarkable  for  his  dulness,  that 
he  became  the  jest  of  his  acquaintances.  He  studied 
the  sciences  at  Padua,  and  afterwards  taught  at 
Cologne,  and  finally  in  Paris.  He  travelled  through 
all  Germany  as  Provincial  of  the  order  of  Dominican 
Mottks,  vbited  Rome,  and  was  made  bishop  of  Katis- 
bon :  but  his  passion  for  science  induced  him  to  give 

Iup  bis  bisliopric,  and  return  to  a  cloister  at  Cologne, 
iRicre  he  continued  till  his  death. 
Albertus  was  acquainted  with  all  the  sciences  cul- 
•  The  orifinftl  author,  whom  all  wlio  huve  given  any  account 
of  the  alchymists  have  rollowed,  is  Olaus  Borrichins,  in  his 
Con^etiu  Kcriptetmm  Chemicorum  Celebriomm.  He  doe: 
'  '  '  '    '  £  his  information  was  derived. 


32.  HISTORY  or  CHEMISTRY. 

tivated  m.  his  time.  He. was  at  once  a  theolog^y  '.4 
physician,  and  a  man  of  the  world :  he  was  an  astro 
nomer  and  an  alchymist,  and  even  dipped  into  magi^ 
and  necromancy.  His  works  are  very  volaminous 
They  were  collected  by  Petr.  Jammy,  and  publiihaii 
at  lieyden  in  twenty-one  folio  volumes,  in  16^*  IfM 
principal  alchy mistical  tracts  are  the  following : 

1 .  De  Rebus  Metallicis  et  Mineralibus. 

2.  De  Alchymia. 

3.  Secretorum  Tractatus. 

4.  Breve  Compendium  de  Ortu  Metallorum.     • 

5.  Concordantia  Philosophorum  de  Lapide. 

6.  Compositum  de  Compositis. 

7    Liber  octo  Capitum  de  Philosophorum  Lapide*.  -. 

Most  of  these  tracts  have  been  inserted  in  ^ 
Theatrum  Chemicum.  They  are  in  general  plain  aiit 
intelligible.  In  his  treatise  De  Alchymia,  for  exampki 
he  gives  a  distinct  account  of  all  the  chemical  sob* 
stances  known  in  his  time,  and  of  the  manner  o( 
obtaining  them.  He  mentions  also  the  apparatus  thea 
employed  by  chemists,  and  the  various  processes  whidi 
they  had  occasion  to  perform.  I  may  notice  the  mfli 
remarkable  facts  and  opiiiions  which  I  have  obserytfl 
in  turning  over  these  treatises.  '9 

He  was  of  opinion  that  all  metals  are  composed'| 
sulphur  and  mercury;  and  endeavoured  to  accoiit 
for  the  diversity  of  metals  partly  by  the  difference^ 
the  purity,  and  partly  by  the  difference  in  the  propM 
tions  of  the  sulphur  and  mercury  of  which  they  il 
composed.  He  thought  that  water  existed  also  atf 
constituent  of  all  metals. 

He  was  acquainted  with  the  water-bath,  emplojl 
sdembics  for  distillation,  and  aludels  for  sublimatiii 
and  he  was  in  the  habit  of  employing  various  Intj 
the  composition  of  which  he  describes.  li 

He  mentions  alum  and  caustic  alkali,  and  aeci 
to  have  known  the  alkaline  basis  of  cream  of  tait 
He  knew  the  method  of  purifybg  the  precious  jmt 


OT  ALCHTMT.  33 

l^i&cansof  lead  and  of  gold,  by  cementation;  and 
''(^ise  the  method  of  trying  the  purity  of  gold,  and 
^  dktinguishing  pure  from  impure  gold. 

He  mentions  red  lead,  metallic  arsenic,  and  Hver  of 
*id{^ur.  He  was  acquainted  with  green  vitriol  and 
^n  p^ites.  He  knew  that  arsenic  renders  copper 
^hite,  and  that  sulphur  attacks  all  the  metals  except 
X)W.  • 

It  is  said  by  some  that  he  was  acquainted  with  gun- 
owder ;  but  nothing  indicating  any  such  knowledge 
ccurs  in  any  of  his  writings  that  I  have  had  an  oppor- 
mity  of  perusing.* 

2.  Albertus  is  said  to  have  had  for  a  pupil,  while 
e  taught  in  Paris,  the  celebrated  Thomas  Aquinas,  a 
k>minican,  who  studied  at  Bologna,  Rome,  and 
Faples,  and  distinguished  himself  still  more  in  divi- 
ity  and  scholastic  philosophy  than  in  alchymy.    He 


rot?, 


1.  Thesaurum  Alchymiee  Secretissimum. 

2.  Secreta  Alchymio;  Magnalia. 

3.  De  Esse  et  Essentia  Mineralium ; 

nd  perhaps  some  other  works,  which  I  have  not  seen. 

These  works,  so  far  as  I  have  perused  them,  are 
xceedingly  obscure,  and  in  various  places  unintelli- 
gible. Some  of  the  terms  still  employed  by  modem 
ihemists  occur,  for  the  first  time,  in  the  writings  of 
liomas  Aquinas.  Thus  the  term  amalgam,  still  em- 
iloyed  to  denote  a  compound  of  mercury  with  another 
aetal,  occurs  in  them,  and  I  have  not  observed  it  in 
iny  earlier  author. 

3.  Soon  after  Albertus  Magnus,  flourished  Roger 
3acon,  by  far  the  most  illustrious,  the  best  informed, 
md  the  most  philosophical  of  all  the  alchymists.  He 
vas  bom  in  1214,  in  the  county  of  Somerset.  After 
itudying  in  Oxford,  and  afterwards  in  Paris,  he  became 
i  cordelier  friar;  and,  devoting  himself  to  philosophical 

*  It  is  curious  that  Olaus  Borrichius  omits  Albertus  Magnus 
in  the  list  of  alchymistical  writers  that  he  has  given. 
VOL.  I.  D 


34  HISTORY  OF  CHEMISTRY. 

investigations,  hid  discoveries,  notwithstanding  th6 
pains  which  he  took  to  conceal  them,  made  such  a 
noise,  that  he  was  accused  of  magic,  and  his  btethreb 
in  consequence  threw  him  into  prison.  He  died,  it  is- 
said,  in  the  year  1284,  though  Sprengel  fixes  the  year 
of  his  death  to  be  1285. 

His  writings  display  a  degree  of  knowledge  and 
extent  of  thought  scarcely  credible,  if  we  consider  the 
time  when  he  wrote,  the  darkest  period  of  the  dark 
ages.  In  his  small  treatise  De  Mirabili  Potestate  Arti^ 
et  Naturce,  he  begins  by  pointing  out  the  absurdity  of 
believing  in  magic,  necromancy,  charms,  or  any  of  those 
similar  opinions  which  were  at  that  time  universally 
prevalent.  He  points  out  the  various  ways  in  which 
mankind  are  deceived  by  jugglers,  ventriloquists,  &c.  ;• 
mentions  the  advantages  which  physicians  may  derive 
from  acting  on  the  imaginations  of  their  patients  by 
means  of  charms,  amulets,  and  infallible  remedies : 
he  affirms  that  many  of  those  things  which  are  consi- 
dered as  supernatural,  are  merely  so  because  mankind 
in  general  are  unacquainted  with  natural  philosophy. 
To  illustrate  this  he  mentions  a  great  number  of  natural 
phenomena,  which  had  been  reckoned  miraculous ;  and 
concludes  with  several  secrets  of  his  own,  which  htf 
affirms  to  be  still  more  extraordinary  imitations  of  som4r 
of  the  most  singular  processes  of  nature.  These  h& 
delivers  in  the  enigmatical  style  of  the  times ;  induced,' 
as  he  tells  us,  partly  by  the  conduct  of  other  philoso^' 
phers,  partly  by  the  propriety  of  the  thing,  and  partljf 
by  the  danger  of  speaking  too  plainly. 

From  an  attentive  perusal  of  his  works,  many  ci 
which  have  been  printed,  it  will  be  seen  that  Bacofl 
was  a  great  linguist,  being  familiar  with  Latin,  Greek 
Hebrew,  and  Arabic;  and  that  he  had  perused  thi 
most  important  books  at  that  time  existing  in  all  thes 
languages.  He  was  also  a  grammarian ;  he  was  w^ 
versed  in  the  theory  and  practice  of  perspective ;  h 
understood  the  use  of  conve;!i:  and  concave  glassesi  an 


lid  AJrt  of  nuking  them.  The  csim^m  obicntat  bum-' 
ng-glaMeHy  and  the  powers  of  the  telesc^ope,  were 
iaowh  to  hhn.  He  was  well  versed  in  geography  and 
kstronomy.  He  knew  the  great  error  in  the  Jtilian 
adendaty  assigned  the  cause,  and  proposed  the  remedy^ 
lie  understood  chronology  well ;  he  was  a  skilful  phy« 
lieiauy  and  an  able  mathematician,  logician,  ifieta-^ 
physician^  and  theologist ;  but  it  is  as  a  chemist  that 
le  claims  our  attention  here.  The  following  is  a  list 
)f  his  chemical  writings,  as  given  by  Gmehn,  thi^ 
irhole  ef  which  I  have  never  had  an  opportunity  df 
leeilig: 
Ik  Speculum  Alchymise.* 

2.  Epistola  de  Secretis  Operibus  Artis  et  Natures  ^t 
le  NuUitate  Magi^e. 

3.  De  Mirabili  Potestate  Artis  et  Naturee. 

4.  Medulla  Alchymiee. 

5.  De  Arte  Chemise. 

6fc  Breviorium  Alchymiee. 
7k  Documenta  Alchymiee. 

8.  De  Alchymistarum  Artibus. 

9.  De  Secretis. 

10.  De  Rebus  Metallicis. 

11.  De  Sculpturis  Lapidum. 

12.  De  Philosophorum  Lapide. 

13.  Opus  Majus,  or  Alchymia  Major. 

14.  Breviarium  de  Dono  Dei. 

15.  Verbum  abbreviatum  de  Leone  Viridi. 

16.  Secretum  Secretorum. 

17.  Tractatus  Trium  Verborum. 

18.  Speculum  Secretorum. 

\  number  of  these  were  collected  together,  and  pub- 
ished  at  Frankfort  in  1603,  under  the  title  of  **  Rogeri 
Baconis  Angli  de  Arte  Chemiee  Scripta,"  in  a  small 
luodecimo  volume.  The  Opus  Majus  was  published 
n  London  in  1733,  by  Dr.  Jebb,  in  a  folio  volume. 

*  This  tract  and  the  next,  which  is  of  considerahle  lengthy 
(rill  be  found  inMaogetus's  Bibliotheca  ChemlcaCuriosa,  i.  613. 

d2 


36  HISTORY.  OF  CHEMISTRY.  'i 

Several  of  his  tracts  still  continue  in  manuscript  in. 
t)ie  Harleian  and  Bodleian  libraries  at  Oxford.  He  , 
considered  the  metals  as  compound  of  mercury  and 
sulphur.  Gmelin  affirms  that  he  was  aware  of  the 
peculiar  nature  of  manganese,  and  that  he  was  ac- 
quainted with  bismuth ;  but  after  perusing  the  whole 
of  the  Speculum  Alchymise,  the  third  chapter  of  which 
he  quotes  as  containing  the  facts  on  which  he  founds 
his  opinion,  I  cannot  find  any  certain  allusion  either 
to  manganese  or  bismuth.  The  term  magnesia  indeed 
occurs,  but  nothing  is  said  respecting  its  nature :  and 
long  after  the  time  of  Paracelsus,  bismuth  {bisematum). 
was  considered  as  an  impure  kind  of  lead.  That  he 
was  ajcquainted  with  the  composition  and  properties  of 
gunpowder  admits  of  no  doubt.  In  the  sixth  chapter 
of  his  epistle  De  Secretis  Operibus  Artis  et  Natures  et 
de  NuUitate  Magise,  the  following  passage  occurs :  . 

'^  For  sounds  like  thunder,  and  coruscations  like 
lightning,  may  be  made  in  the  air,  and  they  may  be 
rendered  even  more  horrible  than  those  of  nature  her- 
self.    A  small  quantity  of  matter,  properly  manufac- 
tured, not  larger  than  the  human  thumb,  may  be  made 
to  produce  a  horrible  noise  and  coruscation.    And  thii 
may  be  done  many  ways,  by  which  a  city  or  an  anm 
may  be  destroyed,  as  was  the  case  when  Gideon  an( 
his  men  broke  their  pitchers  and  exhibited  their  lamps 
fire  issuing  out  of  them  with  inestimable  noise,  dc 
stroyed  an  infinite  number  of  the  army  of  the  Midiac 
ites."    And  in  the  eleventh  chapter  of  the  same  epist' 
occurs  the  following  passage :    *'  Mix  together  sal 
petre,  luru  vopo  vir  con  utriet,  and  sulphur,  and  yc 
will  make  thunder  and  lightning,  if  you  know  t^ 
method  of  mixing  them."     Here  all  the  ingredients 
gunpowder  are  mentioned  except  charcoal,  which 
doubtless  concealed  under  the  barbarous  terms  Iv 
vopo  vir  con  utriet. 

But  though  Bacon  was  acquainted  with  gunpowd 
we  have  no  evidence  that  he  was  the  inventor.     H 


0¥   ALCHtMY.  3t 

Far  tlic  celebrated  Greek  fire,  concerning  which  so 
much  has  been  written,  was  connected  with  gunpowder, 
tt  is  impossible  to  say ;  but  there  is  good  evidence  to 
prove  that  gunpowder  was  known  and  used  in  China 
before  the  commencement  of  the  Christian  era ;  and 
Lord  Bacon  is  of  opinion  that  the  thunder  and  light- 
ning and  magic  stated  by  the  Macedonians  to  have 
been  exhibited  in  Oxydrakes,  when  it  was  besieged  by 
Alexander  the  Great,  was  nothing  else  than  gun* 
powder.  Now  as  there  is  pretty  good  evidence  that 
the  use  of  gunpowder  had  been  introduced  into  Spain 
by  the  Moors,  at  least  as  early  as  the  year  1343,  and 
as  Roger  Bacon  was  acquainted  with  Arabic,  it  is  by 
no  means  unlikely  that  he  might  have  become  ac- 
quainted with  the  mode  of  making  the  composition, 
and  with  its  most  remarkable  properties,  by  perusing 
some  Arabian  writer,  with  whom  we  are  at  present 
unacquainted.  Barbour,  in  his  life  of  Bruce,  informs 
us  that  guns  were  first  employed  by  the  English  at  the 
battle  of  Werewater,  which  was  fought  in  1327,  about 
forty  years  after  the  death  of  Bacon. 

Two  novelties  that  day  they  saw, 

That  forouth  in  Scotland  had  been  nene ; 

Timbers  for  belmes  was  the  ane 

That  they  thought  then  of  great  beautie. 

And  also  wonder  for  to  see. 

The  other  crakys  were  of  war 

That  they  before  heard  never  air. 

In  another  part  of  the  same  book  we  have  the 
phrase  gynnys  for  crakys,  showing  that  the  term 
crakys  was  used  to  denote  a  gun  or  musket  of  some 
form  or  other.  It  is  curious  that  the  English  would 
seem  to  have  been  the  first  European  nation  that  em- 
{^oyed  gunpowder  in  war  ;  they  used  it  in  the  battle 
of  Crecy,  fought  in  1346,  when  it  was  unknown  to  the 
French,  and  it  is  supposed  to  have  contributed  m^^ 
terially  to  the  hnUiant  victory  which  was  obtained. 


38  HtSTOIiY  eV  CHEMISTRY. 

4.  Kaymond  Lully  is  said  to  have  becfb  a  scliolar 
and  a  fiiend  of  Roger  Bacon.  He  was  a  most  vo- 
luminous writer,  and  acquired  as  high  a  reputatioii  as 
any  of  the  alchymists.  According  to  Mutius  he  was 
bom  in  Majorca  in  the  year  1235.  His  father  was 
seneschal  to  King  James  the  First  of  Arragon, 
In  his  younger  days  he  went  into  the  army ;  but 
afterwards  held  a  situation  in  the  court  of  his  sove* 
reign.  Devoting  himself  to  science  he  soon  acquired 
a  competent  knowledge  of  Latin  and  Arabic.  After 
studying  in  Paris  he  got  the  degree  of  doctor  conferred 
upon  him.  He  entered  into  the  order  of  Minorites, 
and  induced  King  James  to  establish  a  cloister  of  thai 
order  in  Minorca.  He  afterwards  travelled  through 
Italy,  Germany,  England,  Portugal,  Cyprus,  Armenia 
and  Palestine.  He  is  said  by  Mutius  to  have  died  in 
the  year  1315,  and  to  have  been  buried  in  Majorca, 
The  following  epitaph  is  given  by  Olaus  Borrichius  as 
engraven  on  his  tomb : 

Raymundus  LuUi,  cujus  pla  dogmata  null! 
Sunt  odiosa  viro,  jacet  hie  in  marmore  ipiro 
Hie  M.  et  CC.  Cum  P.  ccepit  sine  sensibus  esse. 

MC  CC  in  these  lines  denote  1300,  and  P  whicl 
is  the  15th  letter  of  the  alphabet  denotes  15,  sotha 
if  this  epitaph  be  genuine  it  follows  that  his  deati 
took  place  in  the  year  1315. 

It  seems  scarcely  necessary  to  notice  the  story  thj 
Raymond  Lully  made  a  present  to  Edward,  King  of  Enj 
land,  of  six  millions  of  pieces  of  gold,  to  enable  hirai  1 
make  war  on  the  Saracens,  which  sum  that  monarch  en 
ployed,  contrary  to  the  intentions  of  the  donor,  in  h 
French  wars.   This  story  cannot  apply  to  Edward  III 
because  in  1315,  at  the  time  of  Raymond's  death,  th 
monarch  was  only  three  years  of  age.    It  can  scaroc 
apply  to  Edward  IL,  who   ascended  the  throtie 
1 305 :  but  who  had  no  opportunity  of  making  m\ 
either  on  the  Saracens  or  French,  being  totally  aoe 
pied  in  oppoiing  tha  intrigaaa  o^  b\a  o^^ea  and 


0^  AtoaiTMir.  39 

bellious  subjects,  to  whom  he  ultimately  fell  ass^crifice. 
Edward  the  First  made  war  both  upon  the  Baracejos 
and  the  French,  and  lived  during  the  time  of  Ray- 
mond :  but  his  wars  with  the  Saracens  were  finished 
before  he  ascended  the  throne,  and  during  the  whole  of 
his  reign  he  was  too  much  occupied  with  his  projected 
conquest  of  Scotland,  to  pay  much  serious  attention 
to  any  French  war  whatever.  The  story,  therefore, 
cannot  apply  to  any  of  the  three  Edwards,  and  cannot 
be  true.  Raymond  Lujly  is  said  to  have  been  stoned 
to  death  in  Africa  for  preaching  Christianity  in  the 
year  1315.  Others  will  have  it  that  he  was  alive  in 
England  in  the  year  1332,  at  which  time  his  age 
would  have  been  97. 

The  following  table  esbihits  a  list  of  his  numerous 
writings,  most  of  which  are  to  be  found  in  the  Theatrum 
Chemicum,  the  Artis  Auriferee,  or  the  Biblotheca 
Chemica. 

1 .  Praxis  Universalis  Magni  Operis. 

2.  Clavicula. 

3.  Theoria  et  Practlca. 

4.  Compendium  Animse  Transmutationis  Artis  Me* 
tallorum. 

5.  Ultimum  Testamentum.  Of  this  work,  which 
professes  to  give  the  whole  doctrine  of  alchymy,  there 
IS  an  English  translation. 

6.  Elucidatio  Testamenti. 

7.  Potestas  Divitiorum  cum  Expositione  Testa- 
menti  Hermetis. 

8.  Compendium  Artis  Magicse,  quoad  Composi- 
tionem  Lapidis. 

9.  De  Lapide  et  Oleo  Philosophorum. 

10.  Modus  accipiendi  Aurum  Potabile. 

11.  Compendium  Alchymies   et    Naturalis    Phil«i» 
sophise. 

12.  Lapidarium. 

13.  Lux  Mercuriorum. 

14.  'ExperiBwata. 


40  HISTORY  OP  CHEMISTRY. 

15.  Ars  Compendiosa  vel  Vademecum. 

16.  De  Accurtatione  Lapidis. 
Several  other  tracts  besides  these  are  named  b 

Gmelin ;  but  I  have  never  seen  any  of  them.     I  havi 
attempted   several  times  to  read  over  the  works 
Raymond  Lully,  particularly  his  Last  Will  and  Tes- 
tament, which  is  considered  the  most  important  o€ 
them  all.     But  they  are  all  so  obscure,  and  filled  with 
such   unintelligible  jargon,  that  I  have  found  it  im- 
possible to  understand  them.     In  this  respect  they 
form  a  wonderful  contrast  with  the  works  of  Albertns 
Magnus  and  Roger  Bacon,  which  are  compcurativdy 
plain  and  intelligible.     For  an  account,  therefore,  of 
the    chemical   substances  with  which    he    was   ac^ 
quainted,  I  am  obliged  to  depend  on  Gmelin ;  though 
I  put  no  great  confidence  in  his  accuracy. 
.  like  his  predecessors,  he  was  of  opinion  that  all 
the  metals  are  compounds  of  sulphur  and  mercury. 
But  he  seems  first  to   have  introduced  those  hiero- 
glyphical  figures  or  symbols,  which  appear  in  such 
profusion  in  the  English  translation  of  his  Last  Will 
and  Testament,  and  which  he  doubtless  intended  to 
illustrate  his  positions.     Though  what  other  purpose 
they  could  serve,  than  to  induce  the  reader  to  conoder 
his  statements  as  allegorical,  it  is  not  easy  to  conjec- 
ture.    Perhaps  they  may  have  been  designed  to  im- 
pose upon  his  contemporaries  by  an  air  of  sometbinf 
very  profound  and  inexplicable.    For  that  he  possessec 
a  good  deal  of  charlatanry  is  pretty  evident,  from  thi 
slightest  glance  at  his  performances. 

He  was  acquainted  with  cream  of  tartar,  which  h 
distilled :  the  residue  he  burnt,  and  observed  that  th 
alkali  extracted  deliquesced  when  exposed  to  the  aii 
He  was  acquainted  with  nitric  acid,  which  he  ol 
tained  by  distilling  a  mixture  of  saltpetre  and  ^ee 
vitriol.  He  mentions  its  power  of  dissolving,  q( 
merely  mercury,  but  likewise  other  metals.  He  cou 
form  aqua  regia  by  adding  ^ai  axnmouiac  or  commc 


OF  AtCHTMY.  41 

^Jt  to  nitric  acid,  and  he  was  aware  of  the  property 
^liich  it  had  of  dissolving  gold. 

Spirit  of  wine  was  well  known  to  him,  and  distin- 
%'liished  by  him  by  the  names  of  aqua  vitee  ardens.and 
^tgentum  vivum  yegetabile.     He  knew  the  method  of 
tendering  it  stronger  by  an  admixture  of  dry  carbonate 
of  potash,  and  of  preparing  vegetable  tinctures  by 
tneans  of  it.    He  mentions  alum  from  Rocca,  marcasite. 
White  and  red  mercurial  precipitate.     He  knew  the 
volatile  alkali  and  its  coagulations  by  means  of  alco- 
hol.    He  was  acquainted  with  cupeUated  silver,  and 
first  obtained  rosemary  oil  by  distilling  the  plant  with 
water.     He  employed  a  mixture  of  flour  and  white  of 
egg  spread  upon  a  linen  cloth  to  cement  cracked 
glass  vessels,  and  used  other  lutes  for  similar  pur- 
poses.* 

5.  Amoldus  de  Villa  Nova  is  said  to  have  been 
bom  at  Villeneuve,  a  village  of  Provence,  about  the 
year  1240.  Olaus  Borrichius  assures  us,  that  in  his 
time  his  posterity  lived  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Avig- 
non; that  he  was  acquainted  with  them,  and  that 
they  were  by  no  means  destitute  of  chemical  know- 
ledge. He  is  said  to  have  been  educated  at  Barcelona, 
under  John  Casamila,  a  celebrated  professor  of  medi- 
cine. This  place  he  was  obliged  to  leave,  in  consequence 
of  foretelling  the  death  of  Peter  of  Arragon.  He  went 
to  Paris,  and  likewise  travelled  through  Italy.  He 
afterwards  taught  publicly  in  the  University  of  Mont- 
pelier.  His  reputation  as  a  physician  became  so 
great,  that  his  attendance  was  solicited  in  dangerous 
cases  by  several  kings,  and  even  by  the  pope  himself. 
'He  was  skilled  in  all  the  sciences  of  his  time,  and  was 
besides  a  proficient  in  Greek,  Hebrew,  and  Arabic. 
When  at  Pauris  he  studied  astrology,  and  calculating 
the  age  of  the  world,  he  found  that  it  was  to  termi- 
nate in  the  year  1335.    The  theologians  of  Paris  ex* 

'.,  •  Gjiirf«i'5fitedilttiderCheime,i.74  ** 


4S  HISTORY  er  cuEicistRr. 

Glaimed  against  this  and  several  other  of  his  opimonSi 
and  condemned  our  astrologer  as  a  heretic.  This 
obliged  him  to  leave  France ;  but  the  pope  protected 
him.  He  died  in  the  year  1313,  on  his  way  to  visit 
Pope  Clement  V.  who  lay  sick  at  Avignon.  The  fol* 
lowing  table  exhibits  a  pretty  full  list  of  his  works  : 

1.  Antidotorium. 

2.  De  Vinis. 

3.  De  Aquis  Laxativis. 

4.  Rosarius  Philosophorum. 

5.  Lumen  Novum. 

6.  De  Sigillis. 

7.  Flos  Florum. 

8.  Epistolee  super  Alchymia  ad  Regem  Neapoli^ 
tanum. 

9.  Liber  Perfectionis  Magisterii. 

10.  Succosa  Carmina. 

11.  Questiones    de   Arte   Transmutationis    Metal^ 
lorum. 

12.  Testamentum. 

13.  Lumen  Luminum. 

14.  Practica. 

It5.  Speculum  Alchymioe. 

16.  Carmen.  c 

17.  Questiones  ad  Bonifacium.  .(> 

18.  Semita  Semitee.  -.* 

19.  De  Lapide  Philosophorum.  ;. 

20.  De  Sanguine  Humano.  i 

21.  De  Spiritu  Vini,  Vino  Antimonii  et  Gemmorai| 
Viribus.  i 

Perhaps  the  most  curious  of  all  these  works  is  dA 
JRosarium,  which  is  intended  as  a  complete  eompen 
of  all  the  alchymy  of  his  time.  The  first  part  of  i 
on  the  theory  of  the  art  is  plain  enough ;  but  the  if 
cond  part  on  the  practice,  which  is  subdivided  ial 
thirty-two  chapters,  and  which  professes  to  teach  di 
art  of  making  the  philosopher's  stone^  is  in  man 
places  quite  unintelligible  to  me. 


f»v  AXicmrsfY*  4S 

He  eoBtldered,  like  bis  predecesion,  mercury  as  a 
constitaent  of  metals,  and  he  professed  a  knowledge 
of  the  philosopher's  stone,  which  he  could  increase  at 
pleasure.  Gold  and  gold-water  was,  in  his  opinion, 
t>ne  of  the  most  precious  of  medicines.  He  employed 
mercury  in  medicine.  He  seems  to  designate  bismuth 
under  the  name  marcasite.  He  was  in  the  habit  of 
preparing  oil  of  turpentine,  oil  of  rosemary,  and  spirit 
of  rosemary,  which  afterwards  became  famous  under 
the  name  of  Hungary-water.  These  distillations 
were  made  in  a  glazed  earthen  vessel  with  a  glass  top 
and  hehn. 

His  works  were  published  at  Venice  in  a  single 
folio  volume,  in  the  year  1505.  There  were  seven 
subsequent  editions,  the  last  of  which  appeared  at 
Btrasburg  in  1613. 

6.  John  Isaac  Hollandus  and  his  countryman  of  the 
same  name,  were  either  two  brothers  or  a  fathier  and 
son ;  it  is  uncertain  which.  For  very  few  circum- 
stances respecting  these  two  laborious  and  meritorious 
men  have  been  handed  down  to  posterity.  They  were 
bom  in  the  village  of  Stolk  in  Holland,  it  is  supposed 
in  the  13th  century.  Tliey  certainly  were  after  At* 
noldus  de  Villa  Nova,  because  they  refer  to  him  in 
their  writings.  They  wrote  many  treatises  on  che- 
mistry, remarkable,  considering  the  time  when  they 
wrote,  for  clearness  and  precision,  describing  their  pro* 
cesses  with  accuracy,  and  even  giving  figures  of  the 
instruments  which  they  employed.  This  makes  their 
books  intelligible,  and  they  deserve  attention  because 
they  show  that  various  processes,  generally  supposed 
of  a  more  modem  date  were  known  to  them.  Their 
treatises  are  written  partly  in  Latin  and  partly  in  Qer* 
man.  The  following  list  contains  the  names  of  most 
of  them: 

1.  Opera  Vegetabilia  ad  ejus  alia  Opera  Intelli* 
genda  Neceaaaria. 


44  HISTORY   OF  CHEMISTRY. 

2.  Opera  Mineralia  seu  de  Lapide  Philosophico 
Libri  duo. 

3.  Tractat  vom  stein  der  Weisen. 

4.  Fragmenta  Qusedam  Chemica. 

5.  De  Triplice  Ordine  Elixiris  et  LapidisTlbeorea. 

6.  Tractatus  de  Salibus  et  Oleis  Metallorum. 

7.  Fragmentum  de  Opere  Philosophorum. 

8.  Rariores  Chemise  Operationes. 

9.  OpusSaturni. 

10.  De  Spiritu  Urinse. 

1 1 .  Hand  der.  Philosopher. 

Olaus  Borrichius  complains  that  their  opera  mine" 
ralia  abound  with  processes ;  but  that  they  are  ambi- 
guous, and  such  that  nothing  certain  can  be  deduced 
from  them  even  after  much  labour.*    Hence  they  draw 
on  the  unwary  tyro  from  labour  to  labour.     I  am 
disposed  myself  to  draw  a  different  conclusion,  from 
what  I  have  read  of  that  elaborate  work.     It  is  true 
that  the  processes  which  profess  to  make  the  philo- 
sopher's stone,  are  fallacious,  and  do  not  lead  to  the 
manufacture  of  gold,  as  the  author  intended,  and  ex<- 
pected:   but  it  is  a  great  deal  when   alchymistical 
processes  are  delivered  in  such  intelligible  languagis 
that  you  know  the  substances  employed.  This  enables 
us  easily  to  see  the  results  in  almost  every  case,  ini 
to  know  the  new  compounds  which  were  formed  dunn|( 
a  vain  search  for  the  philosopher's  ^tone.     Had  tbB 
other  alchymists  written  as  plainly,  the  absurdity  of 
their' researches  would  have  been  sooner  discovered; 
and  thus  a  useless  or  pernicious  investigation  wouUI 
have  sooner  terminated.  "^ 

7.  Basil  Valentine  is  said  to  have  been  born  abotil 
the  year  1394,  and  is,  perhaps,  the  most  celebrated  ol 
all  the  alchymists,  if  we  except  Paracelsus.  He  yr^$ 
a  Benedictine  monk,  at  Erford,  in  Saxony.  If  t*i 
believe  Olaus  Borrichius,  his  writings  were  enclosdl 
in  the  wall  of  a  church  at  Erford,  and  were  discoverai 


0?  A^CHYMY.  46. 

long  after  his  death,  in  consequence  of  the  wall  having 
been  driven  down  by  a  thunderbolt.  But  this  story  is 
not  well  authenticated,  and  is  utterly  improbable.' 
Much  of  his  time  seems  to  have  been  taken  up  in  the 
preparation  of  chemical  medicines.  It  was  he  that 
first  introduced  antinjiony  into  medicine ;  and  it  is 
said,  though  on  no  good  authority,  that  he  first  tried 
the  effects  of  antimonial  medicines  upon  the  monks  of 
his  convent,  upon  whom  it  acted  with  such  violence 
that. he  was  induced  to  distinguish  the  mineral  from 
which  these  medicines .  had  been  extracted,  by  the 
name  of  antimoine  (hostile  to  monks).  What  shows 
the  improbability  of  this  story  is,  that  the  works  of 
Basil  Valentine,  and  in  particular  his  Currus  trium- 
phalis  Antimonii,  were  written  in  the  German  lan- 
guage. Now  the  German  name  for  antimony  is  not 
antimoiney  but  speissglass.  The  Currus  triumphalis 
Antimonii  was  translated  into  Latin  by  Kerkringius, 
who  published  it,  with  an  excellent  commentary,  at 
Amsterdam,  in  1671. 

Basil  Valentine  writes  with  almost  as  much  virulence 
against  the  physicians  of  his  time,  as  Paracelsus  him- 
self did  afterwards.  As  no  particulars  of  his  life  have 
been  handed  down  to  posterity,  I  shall  satisfy  myself 
with  giving  a  catalogue  of  his  writings,  and  then 
pointing  out  the  most  striking  chemical  substances 
with  which  he  was  acquainted. 

The  books  which  have  appeared  under  the  name  of 
Basil  Valentine,  are  very  numerous ;  but  how  many 
of  them  were  really  written  by  him,  and  how  many 
are  supposititious,  is  extremely  doubtful.  The  follow- 
ing are  the  principal : 

1 .  Philosophia  Occulta. 

2.  Tractat  von  naturlichen  und  ubernaturlichen 
Dingen ;  auch  von  der  ersten  tinctur,  Wurzel  und 
Ceiste  der  Metallen. 

13.  Vpu  dern  grossen  stein  der  Uhralten. 


4$  HISTORY  69  CttEltlSTRT. 

4.  Vfertirattatlein  vomftteindetr  WeiiM. 
5»  KurzerftnliaRgundkla^  repetition  od^Wiedur^ 
bolttiige  Vom  grosen  stein  der  Uhralten. 

6.  De  prima  Materia  Lapidis  PhiloSophioi« 

7.  Aioitk  Philesophotum  seu  Aurelild  dtMlultlD  Mi- 
Materia  Lapidis  Phiiosdphorunl^ 

8.  Apocalypais  Chemica. 
9*  Ciaves  13  Philosophise. 

10>  Practica. 

11.  Opus  pfeeclarum  ad  utrumque,  quod  pro  Tett4«^ . . 
mento  dedit  Filio  suo  adoptivo. 

12.  Lctztes  Testament.  .   :i 

13.  De  Microcosmo.  \fi 

14.  Von  der  grosdn  Heimlichkeit  der  Welt  und  ttMt..*} 
ArBney.  ■  1 

15.  Von  der  Wissenschaft  der  sieben  Planeteii«  ^/r 

16.  Offenbahrung  der  verborgenen  Handgrifie.  mj 

17.  Conclusiones  or  Schlussreden.  -J 

18.  Dialogus  Fratris  Alberti  cum  Spiritu.  lie 

19.  De  Sulphure  et  fermento  Philosophorum*  tji 

20.  Haliographia.  i* 

21.  Triumph  wagen  Antimottii.  in 

22.  Einiger  Weg  zur  Wahrheit.  .^ 

23.  Licht  der  Natur.  *g 
The  only  one  of  these  works  that  I  have  read  witll^i 

care,  is  KerkHngius*s  translation  and  commentary  dll»f 
the  Currus  triumphalis  Antimonii.  It  is  an  excelleofci 
book,  written  with  clearness  and  precision,  and  coof^, 
tains  every  thing  respecting  antimony  that  was  knowihr 
before  the  commencement  of  the  19th  century.  Ham' 
much  of  this  is  owing  to  Kerkringius  I  cannot  say,  w6 
I  have  never  had  an  opportunity  of  seeing  a  copy  dfi 
the  original  German  work  of  Basil  Valentine.  / 

Basil  Valentine,  like  Isaac  HoUandus,  was  of  opi^. 
ilion  that  the  metals  are  compounds  of  salt,  sulphufl 
and  mercury.  The  philosopher's  stone  was  composes 
of  the  same  ingredients.  He  affirmed^  that  thete  exiittf 


a  great  similarity  between  the  mode  of  putifjrin^  gold 
and  curing  the  diseases  df  men,  and  that  antimony 
answers  best  for  both.  He  was  acquainted  with 
arsenic,  knew,  many  of  its  properties,  and  mentions 
the  red  compound  Which  it  forms  with  sulphur.  Zinc 
seems  to  have  been  known  to  him,  and  he  mentions 
bismuth,  both  under  its  own  name,  and  under  that  of 
marcasite.  He  was  aware  that  manganese  was  em- 
ployed to  render  glass  colourless.  He  mentions  nitrate 
of  mercury,  alludes  to  corrosive  sublimate,  and  seems 
to  have  known  the  red  oxide  of  mercury.  It  would  be 
needless  to  specify  the  preparations  of  antimony  with 
which  he  was  acquainted ;  scarcely  one  was  unknown 
to  him  which,  even  at  present,  exists  in  the  European 
Pharmacopoeias.  Many  of  the  preparations  of  lead 
were  also  familiar  to  him.  He  was  aware  that  lead 
gives  a  sweet  taste  to  vinegar.  He  knew  sugar  of 
lead,  litharge,  yellow  oxide  of  lead,  white  carbonate 
of  lead ;  and  mentions  that  this  last  preparation  was 
often  adulterated  in  his  time.  He  knew  the  method 
of  making  green  vitriol,  and  the  double  chloride  of 
iron  and  ammonia.  He  was  aware  that  iron  could  be 
precipitated  from  its  solution  by  potash,  and  that  iron 
has  the  property  of  throwing  down  copper.  He  was 
aware  that  tin  sometimes  contains  iron,  and  ascribed 
the  brittleness  of  Hungarian  iron  to  copper.  He  knew 
that  oxides  of  copper  gave  a  green  colour  to  glass ; 
that  Hungarian  silver  contained  gold;  that  gold  is 
precipitated  from  aqua  regia  by  mercury,  in  the  state 
of  an  amalgam.  He  mentions  fulminating  gold.  But 
the  important  facts  contained  in  his  works  are  so 
numerous,  while  we  are  so  uncertain  about  the  genu- 
ineness of  the  writings  themselves,  that  it  will  scarcely 
be  worth  while  to  proceed  further  with  the  catalogue. 

Thus  I  have  brought  the  history  of  alchymy  to  the 
time  of  Paracelsus,  when  it  was  doomed  to  undergo  a 
new  and  important  change.     U  will  be  better,  there- 


48  HI8T01VY  OF  CHIPOSTBT. 

fore,  not  to  pursue  the  history  of  aldiymy  further,  hot 
to  take  up  the  history  of  true  chemistry  ;  and  in  the 
first  place  to  endeavour  to  determine  what  chemical 
facts  were  known  to  the  Ancients,  and  how  far  the 
science  had  proceeded  to  develop  itself  before  the  time 
of  Paracelsus. 


'.■V 


.a 

A 


% 


eHEMtSTRY  OF  THE  ANCIEITTS.  49 


CHAPTER    II. 


.   OF   THE    CHEMICAL   KNOWLEDGE    POSSESSED  BY  THX 

ANCIENTS. 

Notwithstanding  the  assertions  of  Olaus  Borri- 
chius,  and  various  other  writers  who  followed  him  on 
the  same  side,  nothing-  is  more  certain  than  that  the 
ancients  have  left  no  chemical  writings  behind  them, 
and  that  no  evidence  whatever  exists  to  prove  that  the 
science  of  chemistry  was  known  to  them.  Scientific 
chemistry,  on  the  contrary,  took  its  origin  from  the  col- 
lection and  comparison  of  the  chemical  facts,  made 
known  by  the  practice  and  improvement  of  those 
branches  of  manufactures  which  can  only  be  conducted 
by  chemical  processes.  Thus  the  smelting  of  ores,  and 
the  reduction  of  the  metals  which  they  contain,  is  a 
chemical  process ;  because  it  requires,  for  its  success, 
the  separation  of  certain  bodies  which  exist  in  the  ore 
chemically  combined  with  the  metals ;  and  it  cannot  be 
done,  except  by  the  application  or  mixture  of  a  new 
substance,  having  an  affinity  for  these  substances,  and 
capable,  in  consequence,  of  separating  them  from  the 
metal,  and  thus  reducing  the  metal  to  a  state  of 
purity.  The  manufacture  of  glass,  of  soap,  of  leather, 
are  all  chemical,  because  they  consist  of  processes,  by 
means  of  which  bodies,  having  an  affinity  for  each 
other,  are  made  to  unite  in  chemical  combination. 
Now  I  shall  in  this  chapter  point  out  the  principal 
chemical  manufactures  XYiSLt  were  known  to  the  ?LXiQ\eu\a, 

vox.  I,  JB 


50  KlStOAT  OF  CH£MI8TET. 

that  we  may  see  how  much  they  contributed  towai 
laying  the  foundation  of  the  science.  The  chief  soun 
of  our  information  on  this  subject  are  the  writings 
the  Greeks  and  Romans.  Unfortunately  the  arts  a 
manufactures  stood  in  a  very  different  degree  of  ef 
mation  among  the  ancients  from  what  they  do  amo 
the  modems.  Their  artists  and  manufacturers  wi 
chiefly  slaves.  The  citizens  of  Greece  and  Rome  c 
voted  themselves  to  politics  or  war.  Such  of  tlw 
as  turned  their  attention  to  learning  confined  the 
selves  to  oratory j  which  was  the  most  fashionft' 
and  the  most  important  study,  or  to  history,  or  poet 
The  only  scientific  pursuits  which  ever  engaged  d 
attention,  were  politics,  ethics,  and  mathematics,  r 
unless  Archimedes  is  to  be  considered  as  an  except! 
Scarcely  any  of  the  numerous  branches  of  physics  i 
mechanical  philosophy,  which  constitute  so  gMd 
portion  of  modern  science,  even  attracted  the  ait 
tion  of  the  ancients. 

In  consequence  of  the  contemptible  light  in 
all  mechanical  employments  were  viewed  by  th#i 
cients,  we  look  in  vain  in  ai^  of  their  writin 
accurate  details  respecting  the  processes  which  1 
followed.    The  only  exception  to  this  general  n^ 
and  contempt  for  all  the  arts  and  trades,  is  Plin; 
Elder,  whose  object,  in  his  natural  history. 
Collect  into  one  focus,  every  thing  that  was  knoti 
the  period  when  he  lived.     His  work  displays 
gious  reading,  and  a  vast  fund  of  erudition, 
him  that  we  are  chiefly  indebted  for  the  knowl 
the  chemical  arts  which  were  practised  by  the  an< 
But  the  low  estimation  in  which  these  arts  were" 
appears  evident  from  the  wonderful  want  of  infi 
tion  which   Pliny  so   frequently  displays,   aild*' 
erroneous  statements  which  he  has  recorded  resp6^ 
these  processes.   Still  a  great  deal  may  be  drawiL'ft 
the  information  which  has  been  collected  and  td| 
mined  to  us  by  this  indefatigable  natural  histoikfjiji^ 


CHEMlStmr  Of  tttE  AKCIElfTS.  51 

1. — The  ancients  were  acquainted  with  SEVsit 
METALS ;  namely,  gold,  silver,  mercury,  copper,  iron, 
tin,  and  lead.  They  knew  and  employed  various  pre- 
parations of  zinc,  and  antimony,  and  arsenic ;  though 
we  have  no  evidence  that  these  bodies  were  known  to 
them  in  the  metallic  state. 

1 .  Gold  is  spoken  of  in  the  second  chapter  of  Gene^ 
sis  as  existing  and  familiarly  known  before  the  flood. 

"  The  name  of  the  first  is  Pison  ;  that  is  it  which 
encompasseth  the  whole  land  of  Havilah,  where  there 
is  gold.  And  the  gold  of  that  land  is  good :  there  is 
bdellium  and  the  onyx-stone."  The  Hebrew  word  for 
gold,  ^"Tt  {zeb)  signifies  to  be  clear,  to  shine ;  alluding, 
doubtless,  to  the  brilliancy  of  that  metal.  The  term 
ffold  occurs  frequently  in  the  writings  of  Moses,  and 
the  metal  must  have  oeen  in  common  use  among  the 
Egyptians,  when  that  legislator  led  the  children  of 
Israel  out  of  Egypt.*  Gold  is  found  in  the  earth  almost 
always  in  a  native  state.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that 
it  was  much  more  abundant  on  the  surface  of  the  earth, 
and  in  the  beds  of  rivers  in  the  early  periods  of  so- 
ciety, than  it  is  at  present:  indeed  this  is  obvious, 
from  the  account  which  Pliny  gives  of  the  numerous 
places  in  Asia  and  Greece,  and  other  European  coun- 
tries, where  gold  was  found  in  his  time. 

Gold,  therefore,  could  hardly  fail  to  attract  the  at- 
tention of  the  very  first  inhabitants  of  the  globe ;  its 
beauty,  its  malleability,  its  indestructibility,  would 
give  it  value :  accident  would  soon  discover  the  pos- 
sibility of  melting  it  by  heat,  and  thus  of  reducing  tha 
grains  or  small  pieces  of  it  found  on  the  surface  of  the 
earth  into  one  large  mass.  It  would  be  speedily  made 
into  ornaments  and  utensils  of  various  kinds,  and 
thus  gradually  would  come  into  common  use.  This 
we  find  to  have  occurred  in  America,  when  it  was  dis- 

•  Exodus  xi.  2--xiv.n,  12, 13, 17, 18, 24, 25, 26— ra¥&^ 

E  2 


52  HISTORY   OF   CHEMISTKT« 

covered  by  Columbus.  The  inhabitants  of  the  tropical 
parts  of  that  vast  continent  were  familiarly  acquainted 
vith  gold ;  and  in  Mexico  and  Peru  it  existed  in  great 
abundance;  indeed  the  natives  of  these  countries 
seem  to  have  been  acquainted  with  no  other  metal,  or 
at  least  no  other  metal  was  brought  into  such  general 
use,  except  silver,  which  in  Peru  was,  it  is  true,  still 
more  common  than  gold. 

Gold,  then,  was  probably  the  first  metal  with  which 
man  became  acquainted ;  and  that  knowledge  mus^ 
have  preceded  the  commencement  of  history,  since  it 
is  mentioned  as  a  common  and  familiar  substance  in 
the  Book  of  Genesis,  the  oldest  book  in  existence,  of 
the  authenticity  of  which  we  possess  sufficient  evidence, 
The  period  of  leading  the  children  of  Israel  out  of 
\  Egypt  by  Moses,  is  generally  fixed  to  have  been  one 
'^  thousand  six  hundred  and  forty-eight  years  before 
the  commencement  of  the  Christian  era.  So  early, 
then,  we  are  certain,  that  not  only  gold,  but  the 
other  six  malleable  metals  known  to  the  ancients,  wer^ 
familiar  to  the  inhabitants  of  Egypt.  The  Greeks 
ascribe  the  discovery  of  gold  to  the  earliest  of  theii: 
heroes.  According  to  Pliny,  it  was  discovered  on 
Mount  Pangseus  by  Cadmus,  the  Phoenician:  but 
Cadmus's  voyage  into  Greece  was  nearly  coeval  with 
the  exit  of  the  Israelites  out  of  Egypt,  at  which  time 
we  learn  from  Moses  that  gold  was  in  common  uae 
in  Egypt.  All  that  can  be  meant,  then,  is,  that  CdL^  ' 
mus  first  discovered  gold  in  Greece  ;  not  that  he  mad^ 
mankind  first  acquainted  with  it.  Others  say  thai 
Thoas  and  Eaclis,  or  Sol,  the  son  of  Oceanus,  first 
found  gold  in  Panchaia.  Thoas  was  a  contemporary 
of  the  heroes  of  the  Trojan  war,  or  at  least  was  posterior 
to  the  Argonautic  expedition,  and  consequently  loxjj 
posterior  to  Moses  and  the  departure  of  the  childrea 
of  Israel  from  Egypt. 

2.  Silver  also  was  not  only  familiarly  known  to  th^ 
Egyptians  in  the  time  of  Moses,  but,  as  ve  learn  fr<U9* 


CHEMISTRY  OF  tHE  ANCIEtTTS.  53 

Genesis,  was  coined  into  money  before  Joseph  was  set 
over  the  land  of  I^ypt  by  Pharaoh,  which  happened  one 
thousand  eight  hundred  and  seventy-two  years  before 
the  commencement  of  the  Christian  era,  and  conse-* 

Suently  two  hundred  and  twenty-four  years  before  the 
eparture  of  the  children  of  Israel  out  of  Egypt. 

**  And  Joseph  gathered  up  all  the  money  that  was 
found  in  the  land  of  Egypt,  and  in  the  land  of  Canaan, 
for  the  com  which  they  bought ;  and  Joseph  brought 
the  money  into  Pharaoh's  house.*  The  Hebrew  word 
5)D3  (kemep),  translated  money,  signifies  silver,  and 
was  so  called  from  its  pale  colour.  Silver  occurs  in 
many  other  passages  of  the  writings  of  Moses. f  The 
Greeks  inform  us,  that  Erichthonius  the  Athenian,  or 
Ceacus,  were  the  discoverers  of  silver ;  but  both  of 
these  individuals  were  long  posterior  to  the  time  of 
Joseph. 

Silver,  like  gold,  occurs  very  frequently  in  the 
metallic  state.  This,  no  doubt,  was  a  still  more  frequent 
occurrence  in  the  early  ages  of  the  world ;  it  would 
therefore  attract  the  attention  of  mankind  as  early  as 
gold,  and  for  the  same  reason.  It  is  very  ductile, 
very  beautiful,  and  much  more  easily  fused  than 
gold :  it  would  be  therefore  more  easily  reduced  into 
masses,  and  formed  into  different  utensils  and  orna- 
ments than  even  gold  itself.  The  ores  of  it  which  occur 
in  the  earth  are  heavy,  and  would  therefore  draw  the 
attention  of  even  rude  men  to  them :  they  have,  most 
of  them  at  least,  the  appearance  of  being  metallic,  and 
the  most  common  of  them  may  be  reduced  to  the  state 
of  metallic  silver,  simply  by  keeping  them  a  sufficient 
time  in  fusion.  Accordingly  we  find  that  the  Peru- 
vians, before  they  were  overrun  by  the  Spaniards,  had 
made  themselves  acquainted  with  the  mode  of  digging 
out  and  smelting  the  ores  of  silver  which  occur  in 

*  Genesis  xlvii.  14. 

t  For  example.  Exodus  xi.  2— xxvi.  19,  21— xxvii.  10,11, 
17,  &c. 


54  HISTORY  OF  CHSMISTKT* 

their  country,  and  that  many  of  their  most  common 
utensils  were  made  of  that  metal. 

Silver  and  ^old  approached  each  other  nearer  in 
value  among  the  ancients  than  at  present :  an  ouncci 
of  fine  gold  was  worth  from  ten  to  twelve  ounces  of  fine 
silver y  the  variation  depending  upon  the  accidental 
relation  of  the  supply  of  both  metals.  But  after  the 
discovery  of  America,  the  quantity  of  silver  found  in 
that  continent,  especially  in  Mexico,  was  so  gpreat, 
compared  with  that  of  the  gold  found,  that  silver 
became  considerably  cheaper;  so  that  an  ounce  of 
fine  gold  came  to  be  equivalent  to  about  fourteen 
ounces  and  a  half  of  fine  silver.  Of  course  these 
relative  values  have  fluctuated  a  little  according  to 
the  abundance  of  the  supply  of  silver.  Though  the 
revolution  in  the  Spanish  American  colonies  has  con  1 
siderably  diminished  the  supply  of  silver  from  th^ 
mines,  that  deficiency  seems  to  have  been  supplied  by 
other  ways,  and  thus  the  relative  proportion  betweea 
the  value  of  gold  and  silver  has  continued  nearly  un- 
altered. 

3.  That  copper  must  have  been  known  in  the  earliest 
ages  of  society,  is  sufficiently  evident.  It  occurs  fre-t 
quently  native,  and  could  not  fail  to  attract  the  atten«> 
tion  of  mankind,  from  its  colour,  weight,  and  mall^-, 
bility.  It  would  not  be  difficult  to  fuse  it  even  in  tfaiift 
rudest  ages :  and  when  melted  into  masses,  as  it  ii 
malleable  and  ductile,  it  would  not  require  much  skil{. 
to  convert  it  into  useful  and  ornamental  utensils.  J^ 
Hebrew  word  JWHi  (necheshet)  translated  brass^  olh. 
viously  means  copper.  We  have  the  authority  of  tfa^. 
Book  of  Genesis  to  satisfy  us  that  copper  was  Iqiow^. 
before  the  flood,  and  probably  as  early  as  either  silvQC. 
or  gold. 

**  And  Zillah,  she  also  bore  Tubal-cain,  an  instruo*  .'. 
tor  of  every  artificer  in  brass  (copper)  and  iron."* 

♦  Genesis  iV.  22. 


CHEHISTI^T  Of  THE  AVCIB|rrS.  9$ 

The  word  copper  occurs  in  many  other  psuMUtged  of 
the  writings  of  Moses.*  That  the  Hebrew  word  tram* 
lated  brass  must  have  meant  copper  is  obvious,  fVom 
the  following  passage :  '^  Out  of  whose  hills  tho!l 
mayest  dig  brass/'f  Brass  does  not  exist  in  the  eartht 
nor  any  ore  of  it,  it  is  always  made  artificially ;  it 
must  therefore  have  been  copper,  or  an  ore  of  copper, 
that  was  alluded  to  by  Moses. 

Copper  must  have  been  discovered  and  brought  into 
common  use  long  before  iron  or  steel ;  for  Homer  re- 
presents his  heroes  of  the  Trojan  war  as  armed  with 
swords,  &c.  of  copper.  Copper  itself  is  too  soft  to  be 
made  into  cutting  instruments ;  but  the  addition  of  a 
little  tin  gives  it  the  requisite  hardness.  Now  we  learn 
from  the  analyses  of  Klaproth,  that  the  copper  swords 
of  the  ancients  were  actually  hardened  by  the  addition 
of  tin.t 

Copper  was  the  metal  in  common  use  in  the  early 
part  of  the  Roman  commonwealth.  Romulus  coined 
copper  money  alone.  Numa  established  a  college  of 
workers  in  copper  (arariorumfabrum),^ 

The  Latin  word  <bs  sometimes  signifies  copper,  and 
sometimes  brass.  It  is  plain  from  what  Pliny  says  on 
the  subject,  that  he  did  not  know  the  difference  between 
copper  and  brass ;  he  says,  that  an  ore  of  as  occurs 
in  Cyprus,  called  chaldtisy  where  cea  was  first  discor 
vered.  Here  (bs  obviously  means  copper.  In  another 
place  he  says,  that  cbs  is  obtained  from  a  mineral  called 
cadmia.  Now  from  the  account  of  cadmia  by  Pliny 
and  Dioscorides,  there  cannot  be  a  doubt  that  it  is  th« 
ore  to  which  the  modems  have  given  the  name  of 
calamine,  by  means  of  which  brass  is  made.  It  is 
sometimes  a  silicate  and  sometimes  a  carbonate  of 
of  zinc ;  for  both  of  these  ores  are  confounded  together 

»  For  example,  Exodug  xxvii,  2,  3, 4,  6,  10,  11, 17, 18,  19— 
XXX.  18,  &c.    Numbers  xxi.  9. 
tDeut.viU.9.  J  Beitrage,  vi.  81.  5  Pl«ui  Hist.  NaX,  xxw.V 


56  HISTORY  OF  CHEMISTST. 

under  the  name  of  cadmia,  and  both  are  employed  in 
the  manufacture  of  brass. 

Solinus  says,  that  cea  was  first  made  at  Chalcis,  a 
town  in  Eubcea.  Hence  the  Greek  name,  "xblKko^ 
(chalkos)y  by  which  copper  was  distinguished. 

The  proper  name  for  brass,  by  which  is  meant  an 
alloy  of  copper  and  zinc,  was  aurichalcuniy  or  golden, 
or  yellow  copper.       Pliny  says,  that  long  before  hi« 
time,  the  ore  of  aurichalcum  was  exhausted,  so  that 
no  more  of  that  beautiful  alloy  was  made.     Are  we  to 
conclude  from  this,  that  there  once  existed  an  ore  con- 
sisting of  calamine   and    ore  of  copper,   mixed  or 
united  together  ?      After  the  exhaustion  of  the  auri- 
chalcum mine,  the  salustianum  became  the  most  fa-  * 
mous  ;  but  it  soon  gave  place  to  the  livianuniy  a  cop- 
per-mine in  (raul,    named  after  Livia,    the  wife  of 
Augustus.     Both  these  mines  were  exhausted  in  the 
time  of  Pliny.     The  ess  marianum^  or  copper  of  Cor- 
dova, was  the  most  celebrated  in  his  time.     This  last 
4Bs,he  says,  absorbs  most  cadmia,  and  acquires  the 
greatest  resemblance  to  aurichalcum.     We  see  from 
this,  that  in  Pliny's  time  brass  was  made  artificially, 
and  by  a  process  similar  to  that  still  followed  by  the 
moderns. 

The  most  celebrated  alloy  of  copper  among  the 
ancients,  was  the  as  corinthium,  or  Corinthian  cop* 
per,  formed  accidentally,  as  Pliny  informs  us,  during* . 
the  burning  of  Corinth  by  Mummius  in  the  year  608^ 
after  the  building  of  Rome,  or  one  hundred  and  forty- 
five  years  before  the  commencement  of  the  Christian 
era.  There  were  four  kinds  of  it,  of  wliich  Pliny  givei  . 
the  following  description ;  not,  however,  very  intellig^ 
ble :  ' .'. 

1.  White.     It  resembled  silver  much  in  its  lustre|t^' 
and  contained  an  excess  of  that  metal.  .  ' 

2.  Red.     In  this  kind  there  is  an  excess  of  gold^  [^ 

3.  In  the  third  kind,  gold,  silver,  and  copper  90 
mixed  in  equal  proportions. 


CHEMISTRT  OF  THE  AVCIEKT8.  5t 

4.  The  fourth  kmd  is  called  kepatizon^  from  its 
having  a  liver  colour.  It  is  this  colour  which  gives  it 
its  Talue.* 

Copper  was  put  by  the  ancients  to  almost  all  the 
uses  to  which  it  is  put  by  the  modems.  One  of  the 
great  sources  of  consumption  was  bronze  statues, 
which  were  first  introduced  into  Rome  after  the  con- 
quest of  Asia  Minor.  Before  that  time,  the  statues  of 
the  Romans  were  made  of  wood  or  stoneware.  Pliny 
gives  various  formulas  for  making  bronze  for  statues. 
Of  these  it  may  be  worth  while  to  put  down  the  most 
material. 

1 .  To  new  copper  add  a  third  part  of  old  copper.  To 
every  hundred  pounds  of  this  mixture,  twelve  pounds 
^d  a  half  of  tinf  are  added,  and  the  whole  melted 
together. 

2.  Another  kind  of  bronze  for  statues  was  formed, 
by  melting  together 

lOOlbs.  copper, 
lOlbs.  lead, 
51bs.  tin. 

3.  Their  copper-pots  for  boiling  consisted  of  lOOlbs. 
of  copper,  melted  with  three  or  four  pounds  of  tin. 

The  four  celebrated  statues  of  horses  which,  during 
the  reign  of  Theodosius  II.  were  transported  from 
Ohio  to  Constantinople;  and,  when  Constantinople 
was  taken  and  plundered  by  the  Crusaders  and  Vene- 
tians in  1204,  were  sent  by 'Martin  Zeno  and  set  up 
by  the  doge,  Peter  Ziani,  in  the  portal  of  St.  Mark ; 
were  in  1798,  transported  by  the  French  to  Paris ;  and 
finally,  after  the  overthrow  of  Buonaparte,  and  the 
restoration  of  the   Bourbons   in   1815,  returned   to 

•  Plinii  Hist.  Nat.  xxxiv.  2. 

t  Pliny's  phrase  is  plumbum  argentorium.  But  that  the  ad- 
dition was  tin,  and  consequently  that  plumbum  argentorium 
meant  tin,  we  have  the  evidence  of  Klaproth,  who  analyzed 
sereral  of  these  bronze  statues,  and  found  them  composed  of 
copper,  lead,  and  tin, . 


SS  mSTOBT  CfW  C9UCIfntT« 

Venice  and  placed  upon  their  ancient  pedestals.  The 
metal  of  wnich  these  hones  had  been  made  was  exa« 
mined  by  Klaproth,  and  found  by  him  composed  of 

Copper,  993 

Tin,  7 

1000* 
Klaproth  also  analyzed  an  ancient  bronze  statue  in 
one  of  the  German  cabinets,  and  found  it  composed  of  • 

Copper,  916 
Tin,  75 

Lead,  9 

lOOOt 
Several  other  old  brass  and  bronze  pieces  of  metal, 
very  ancient,  but  found  in  Germany,  were  also  ana- 
lyzed by  Klaproth.    The  result  of  lus  analyses  was  at 
follows : 

The  metal  of  which  the  altar  of  Kjrodo  was  made 
consisted  of 

Copper,  69 
Zinc,  18 
Lead,        13  ^ 

loot^  r 

The  emperor's  chair,  which  had  in  the  eleventh  cen*/ 
tury  been  transported  from  Harzburg  ttf  Goslar,  wh^^ : 
it  still  remains,  was  found  to  be  composed  of  \ "' 

Copper,     92-5  'L' 

Tin,  5  r 

Les^d,  2'5 

100§  'J 

Another  piece  of  metal,  which  enclosed  the  high  altaf{ 

in  a  church  in  Germany,  was  composed  of  ,^ 

♦  Beitrage,  vi.  89.  "^  *« 

t  Beitrage,  vi.  118.  The  statue  ia  que^tioa  was  known  by  tilf 
name  of  **  Tbe  Statue  of  FUstriclui,'*  at  Soudenbauaen. ; 
/  Ibid.,  p.  127.  §  Ibid.,  p.  132. 


CHEMI3T|tY  Of  T«£  4KCIWT8.  S9 

Copper,    75 
Tin,  12'5 

Lead,        12'o 

100* 

These  analyses,  though  none  of  them  corresponds 
exactly  with  the  proportions  given  by  Pliny,  confirms 
sufficiently  his  general  statement,  that  the  bronze  of 
the  ancients  employed  for  statues  was  copper,  alloyed 
with  lead  and  tin. 

Some  of  the  bronze  statues  cast  by  the  ancients  were 
of  enormous  dimensions,  and  show  decisively  the  great 
progress  which  had  been  inade  by  them  in  the  art  of 
working  and  casting  metals.  The  addition  of  the  lead 
and  tin  would  not  only  add  greatly  to  the  hardness  of 
the  alloy,  but  would  at  the  same  time  render  it  more 
easily  fusible.  The  bronze  statue  of  Apollo,  placed  in 
the  capitol  at  the  time  of  Pliny,  was  forty-five  feet 
high,  and  cost  500  talents,  equivalent  to  about  £50,000 
of  our  money.  It  was  brought  from  ApoUonia,  in 
Pontus,  by  Lucullus.  The  famous  statue  of  the  sun 
at  Rhodes  was  the  work  of  Chares,  a  disciple  of  Ly- 
sippus ;  it  was  ninety  feet  high,  was  twelve  years  in 
mailing,  and  cost  300  talents  (about  £30,000).  It 
was  made  out  of  the  engines  of  war  left  by  Demetrius 
when  he  raised  the  siege  of  Rhodes.  After  standing 
fifty-six  years,  it  was  overthrown  by  an  earthquake^ 
It  lay  on  the  ground  900  years,  and  was  sold  by 
Mauvia,  king  of  the  Saracens,  to  a  merchant,  who 
loaded  900  camels  with  the  fragments  of  it. 

Copper  was  introduced  into  medicine  at  rather  an 
early  period  of  society,  and  various  medicinal  pre- 
parations of  it  are  described  by  Dioscorides  and  Pliny. 
It  remains  for  us  to  notice  the  most  remarkable  of 
these.  Pliny  mentions  an  institution,  to  which  ha 
gives  the  name  of  Seplasia ;  the  object  of  which  was, 

*  Ibid.,  p,  134. 


60  HISTORY  OP  CHEICISTKY. 

to  prepare  medicines  for  the  use  of  medical  men.  ] 
seems,  therefore,  to  have  been  similar  to  our  apothi 
cai'ies*  shops  of  the  present  day.  Pliny  reprobates  th 
conduct  of  the  persons  who  had  the  charge  of  thea 
Seplasise  in  his  time.  They  were  in  the  habit  of  adul 
terating  medicines  to  such  a  degree,  that  nothing  goo 
or  genuine  could  be  procured  from  them.* 

Both  the  oxides  of  copper  were  known  to  the  an 
cients,  though  they  were  not  very  accurately  distin 
guished  from  each  other :  they  were  known  by  ij^ 
names  Jlos  (eris  and  scoria  cpris,  or  squama  mffjf^ 
They  were  obtained  by  heating  bars  of  copper  red-faf 
and  letting  them  cool,  exposed  to  the  air.  What  j||) 
off  during  the  cooling  was  iXxeflos,  what  was  driff 
off  by  blows  of  a  hammer  was  the  squama  or  scfk^ 
eeris.  It  is  obvious,  that  all  these  substances 
nearly  of  the  same  nature,  and  that  they  wei6i 
reality  mixtures  of  the  black  and  red  oxides  of  copji 

Stomoma  seems  also  to  have  been  an  oxide  of  cm 
per,  which  was  gradually  formed  upon  the  surfaca^ 
the  metal,  when  it  was  kept  in  a  state  of  fusion,   ^jg 

These  oxides  of  copper  were  used  as  external. bI 
plications  in  cases  of  polypi  of  the  nose,  diseascJM 
the  anus,  ear,  mouth,  &c.,  seemingly  as  escharotM 

JErugo,    verdigris,   was  a    subacetate   of  copj"" 
doubtless  often  mixed  with  subacetate  of  zinc,  as^ 
only  copper  but  brass  also  was  used  for  preparii 
The  mode  of  preparing  this  substance  was  simil 
the  process  still   followed.     Whether  verdigris j 
employed  ^  a  paint  by  the  ancients  does  not  ap] 
for  Pliny  takes  no  notice  of  any  such  use  of  it. 
Chalcantum,    called  also  atramentum   su\ 
was  probably  a  mixture  of  sulphate  of  coppei 
sulphate  of  iron.     Pliny's  account  of  the  mode  of 
curing  it  is  too  imperfect  to  enable  us  to  iotm. 
ideas  concerning  it ;  but  it  was  crystallized  on  i 

*  PUnii  Hist  Nat.  zxiiv.  11.  :  ^ 


CHEltlSTRY   OF   THE   ANCIEVTS.  61 

which  were  extended  for  the  purpose  in  the  solution : 
its  colour  was  blue,  and  it  was  transparent  like  glassi 
This  description  might  apply  to  sulpnate  of  copper ; 
but  as  the  substance  was  used  for  blackening  leathn*, 
and  on  that  account  was  called  atramentum  sutoritanf 
it  is  obvious  that  it  must  have  contained  also  sulphate 
of  iron, 

^jaleitULWQB  the  name  for  an  ore  of  copper.  The 
account  given  of  it  by  Pliny  agrees  best  with  cppper 
pyrites,  which  is  now  known  to  be  a  sulphur  salt ^ 
composed  of  one  atom  of  sulphide  of  copper  (the 
acid)  united  to  one  atom  of  sulphide  of  iron  (the 
base).  Pliny  informs  us,  that  it  is  a  mixture  of  cop^ 
per^  misy,  and  sory  :  its  colour  is  that  of  honey.  By 
age,  he  says,  it  changes  into  sory.  I  think  it  most 
probable  that  native  sory,  of  which  Pliny  speaks,  was 
sulphuret  of  copper,  and  artificial  sory  sulphate  of 
copper.  The  native  sory  is  said  to  constitute  black 
veins  in  chalcitis.  Pliny's  description  of  misy  (/itav) 
best  agrees  with  copper  pyrites.  Dioscorides  describes 
it  as  hard,  as  having  the  colour  of  gold,  and  as  shin- 
ing like  a  star.*  All  this  agrees  pretty  well  with  cop- 
per pyrites. 

Scoleca  (so  called  because  it  assumed  the  shape  of 
a  worm)  was  formed  by  triturating  alumen,  carbonate  of 
soda,  and  white  vinegar,  till  the  matter  became  green. 
It  was  probably  a  mixture  of  sulphate  of  soda,  acetate 
of  soda,  acetate  of  alumina,  and  acetate  of  copper, 
probably  with  more  or  less  oxide  of  copper,  <fec.,  de- 
pending upon  the  proportions  of  the  respective  con- 
stituents employed. 

Such 'are  the  preparations  of  copper,  employed  by 
the  ancients.  They  were  only  used  as  external  applica- 
tions, partly  as  escharotics,  and  partly  to  induce 
ulcers  to  put  on  a  healthy  appearance.  It  does  not 
appear  that  copper  was  ever  used  by  the  ancients  as 
an  internal  remedy. 

^*Lib,Y.  c.  117. 


64  HISTORY  OF  CHEMISTRY^ 

Egyptians,  iron  must  have  been  in  common  use  hx 
Egypt :  for  he  mentions  furnaces  for  working  iron  ;* 
ores  from  which  it  was  extracted  ;t  and  tells  us  that 
swords  t,  knives,  II  axes,  §  and  tools  for  cutting  stoneSylF 
were  then  made  of  that  metal.  Now  iron  in  its  pure 
metallic  state  is  too  soft  to  be  applied  to  these  uses  t 
it  is  obvious,  therefore,  that  in  Moses's  time,  not 
only  iron  but  steel  also  must  have  been  in  common 
use  in  Egypt.  From  this  we  see  how  much  further 
advanced  the  Egyptians  were  than  the  Greeks  in  the 
knowledge  of  the  manufacture  of  this  most  important 
metal :  for  during  the  Trojan  war,  which  was  several 
centuries  after  the  time  of  Moses,  Homer  represents 
his  heroes  as  armed  with  swords  of  copper,  hardened 
by  tin,  and  as  never  using  any  weapons  of  iron  what- 
ever. Nay,  in  such  estimation  was  it  held,  that 
Achilles,  when  he  celebrated  games  in  honour  of  Pa-* 
trocles,  proposes  a  ball  of  iron  as  one  of  his  most  va» 
luable  prizes.** 

« 

"  Tlien  hurl'd  the  hero,  thundering  on  the  ground, 
A  mass  of  iron  (an  enormous  round), 
"Whose  weight  and  size  the  circling  Greeks  admire, 
Rude  from  the  furnace  and  hut  shaped  hy  fire. 
This  mighty  quoit  JEtion  wont  to  rear, 
And  from  his  whirling  arm  dismiss'd  in  air ; 
The  giant  hy  Achilles  slain,  he  stow'd 
Among  his  spoils  this  memorable  load. 
For  this  he  bids  those  nervous  artists  vie 
That  teach  the  disk  to  sound  along  the  sky. 
Let  him  whose  might  can  hurl  this  bowl,  arise  ; 
Who  farthest  hurls  it,  takes  it  as  his  prize  : 
If  he  be  one  enrich'd  with  large  domain 
•  Of  downs  for  flocks  and  arable  for  grain. 
Small  stock  of  iron  needs  that  man  provide, 
.' :  His  hinds  and  swains  whole  years  shall  be  supplied 
From  hence  :  nor  ask  the  neighbouring  city's  aid 
For  ploughshares,  wheels,  and  all  the  rural  trade.*' 

*  Deut.  iv.  20.        f  Deut.  viii.  9.        X  Numbers  xxxr.  16, 
))  Levit.  i.  17.        §  Deut.  xviii.  5.        f  Deut.xxyii.  5. 
^i'  mad,  Jib.  xxiii.  1. 826, 


cnEmsTitY  OP  THE  AKaEOTs.  6s 

Tlie  mass  of  iron  was  large  enough  to  supply  a 
shepherd  or  a  ploughman  with  iron  for  five  years. 
This  circumstance  is  a  sufficient  proof  of  the  high  esti- 
mation in  which  iron  was  held  during  the  time  of 
Homer.  Were  a  modem  poet  to  represent  his  hero 
as  holding  out  a  large  lump  of  iron  as  a  prize,  and 
were  he  to  represent  this  prize  as  eagerly  contended 
for  by  kings  and  princes,  it  would  appear  to  us  per- 
fectly ridiculous. 

Hesiod  informs  us,  that  the  knowledge  of  iron  was 
brought  over  from  Phrygia  to  Greece  by  the  Dactyli, 
who  settled  in  Crete  during  the  reign  of  Minos  I., 
about  1431  years  before  the  commencement  of  the 
Christian  era,  and  consequently  about  sixty  years 
before  the  departure  of  the  children  of  Israel  from 
Egypt:  and  it  does  not  appear,  that  in  Homer's 
time,  which  was  about  five  hundred  years  later,  the  art 
of  smelting  iron  had  been  so  much  improved,  as  to 
enable  men  to  apply  it  to  the  common  purposes  of 
life,  as  had  long  before  been  done  by  the  Egyptians. 
The  general  opinion  of  the  ancients  was,  that  the  me- 
thod of  smelting  iron  ore  had  been  brought  to  perfec- 
tion by  the  Chalybes,  a  small  nation  situated  near  the 
Black  Sea,*  and  that  the  name  chalybs,  occasionally 
used  for  steel,  was  derived  from  that  people. 

Pliny  informs  us,  that  the  ores  of  iron  are  scattered 
very  profusely  almost  every  where :  that  they  exist  in 
Elba;  that  there  was  a  mountain  in  Cantabria  com- 
posed entirely  of  iron  ore;  and  that  the  earth  in  Cap- 
padocia,  when  watered  from  a  certain  river,  is  coiivert- 
ed  into  iron.f  He  gives  no  account  of  the  mode  of 
smelting  iron  ores  ;  nor  does  he  appear  to  have  been 
acquainted  with  the  processes ;  for  he  says  that  iron 
is  reduced  from  its  ore  precisely  in  the  same  way  as 
copper  is.      Now  we  know,  that  the  processes  for 

smelting  copper   and  iron   are  quite  different,    and 

♦  Xenophon's  Anabasw,  r.  5.      f  Plinji  Hist,  "Nat,  XttVr,  \\, 
vox,  /•  F 


66  HISTORY  OF  CHEMISTRY* 

founded  upon  different  principles.  He  s^ys^  that  in 
his  time  many  different  kinds  of  iron  existed,  and 
they  were  stricturce^  in  Latin  a  stringenda  acie, 
■  That  steel  was  well  known  and  in  common  use  when 
Pliny  wrote  is  obvious  from  many  considerations ;  but 
he  seems  to  have  had  no  notion  of  what  constituted 
the  difference  between  iron  and  steel,  or  of  the  me- 
thod employed  to  convert  iron  into  steel.  In  his  opi- 
nion it  depended  upon  the  nature  of  the  water,  and 
consisted  in  heating  iron  red-hot,  and  plunging  it, 
while  in  that  state,  into  certain  waters.  The  waters 
at  Bilbilis  and  Turiasso,  in  Spain,  and  at  Comum, 
in  Italy,  possessed  this  extraordinary  virtue.  The 
best  steel  in  Pliny's  time  came  from  China ;  the  next 
best,  in  point  of  quality,  was  manufactured  in 
Parthia. 

It  would  appear,  that  at  Noricum  steel  was  manu-' 
factured  "directly  from  the  ore  of  iron.  This  process 
was  perfecly  practicable,  and  it  is  said  still  to  be  prac* 
tised  in  certain  cases. 

The  ancients  were  acquainted  with  the  method  of 
rendering  iron,  or  rather  steel,  magnetic ;  as  appears 
from  a  passage  in  the  fourteenth  chapter  of  the  thirty* 
fourth  book  of  Pliny.  Magnetic  iron  was  distinguished 
by  the  name  of  ferrura  vivum. 

When  iron  is  dabbed  over  with  alumen  and  vinegar 
it  becomes  like  copper,  according  to  Pliny.  Gerussa; 
gypsum,  and  liquid  pitch,  keep  it  from  rusting.  Pliny 
was  of  opinion  that  a  method  of  preventing  iron  from 
rusting  had  been  once  known,  but  had  been  lost  be* 
fore  his  time.  The  iron  chains  of  an  old  bridge  over 
the  Euphrates  had  not  rusted  in  Pliny's  time ;  but  a 
few  new  links,  which  had  been  added  to  supply  the 
place  of  some  that  had  decayed,  were  become  rusty. 

It  would  appear  from  Pliny,  that  the  ancients  made 

use  of  something  very  like  tractors ;  for  he  says  that 

pain  in  the  side  is  relieved  by  holding  near  it  the 

point  oi  a  dagger  that  has  wounded  a  man.    Watei 


CHEMISTRY  Of  THE  AKCIlffTS.  '67 

in  whicli  red-hot  iron  had  been  plunged  was  i^ecom- 
inended  as  a  cure  for  the  dysentery ;  and  the  actual 
cautery  with  red-hot  iron,  Pliny  informs  us,  prevents 
hydrophobia,  when  a  person  has  been  bitten  by  a  mad 
dog. 

:  Rust  of  iron  and  scales  of  iron  were  used  by  the 
ancients  as  astringent  medicines. 
>^.  Tin,  also,  must  have  been  in  common  use  in  the 
-^ime  of  Moses ;  for  it  is  mentioned  without  any  ob- 
servation as  one  of  the  common  metals.*  And  from 
the  way  in  which  it  is  spoken  of  by  Isaiah  and  Eze- 
kiel,  it  is  obvious  that  it  was  considered  as  of  far  in- 
ferior value  to  silver  and  gold.  Now  tin,  though  the 
ores  of  it  where  it  does  occur  are  usually  abundant, 
is  rather  a  scarce  metal :  that  is  to  say,  there  are  but 
few  spots  on  the  face  of  the  earth  where  it  is  known 
to  exist.  Cornwall,  Spain,  in  the  mountains  of  Gal- 
licia,  and  the  mountains  which  separate  Saxony  and 
Bohemia,  are  the  only  countries  in  Europe  where  tin  ^ 
occurs  abundantly.  The  last  of  these  localities  has 
not  been  known  for  five  centuries.  It  was  from  Spain 
and  from  Britain  that  the  ancients  were  supplied  with 
tin ;  for  no  mines  of  tin  exist,  or  have  ever  been 
known  to  exist,  in  Africa  or  Asia,  except  in  the  East 
Indies.  The  Phoenicians  were  the  first  nation  which 
caried  on  a  great  trade  by  sea.  There  is  evidence 
that  at  a  very  early  period  they  traded  with  Spain 
and  with  Britain,  and  that  from  these  countries  they 
drew  their  supplies  of  tin.  It  was  doubtless  the  Phoe- 
nicians that  supplied  the  Egyptians  with  this  metal. 
They  had  imbibed  strongly  a  spirit  of  monopoly  ;  and 
to  secure  the  whole  trade  of  tin  they  carefully  con- 
cealed the  source  from  which  they  drew  that  metal. 
Hence,  doubtless,  the  reason  why  the  Grecian  geogra-  ^ 
phers,  who  derived  their  information  from  the  Phoe-  / 
nicians,  represented  the  Insulse  Cassiterides,  or  tin 

•  f^nmhers  xxxi,  22* ' 
Jf2 


68  mSTO&T  OF  CHEMIST&T. 

islands,  as  a  set  of  islands  lying  off  the  north  coast 
of  Spain.  We  know  that  in  fact  the  Scilly  islands, 
in  these  early  ages,  yielded  tin,  though  doubtless  the 
great  supply  was  drawn  from  the  neighbouring  pro- 
vince of  Cornwall.  It  was  probably  from  these  islands 
^hat  the  Greek  name  for  tin  was  derived  (icacrffircpoc). 
Even  Pliny  informs  us,  that  in  his  time  tin  was  ob^ 
tained  from  the  Cassiterides,  and  from  Lusitaoia 
and  Gallicia.  It  occurs,  he  says,  in  grains  in  alluvial 
soil,  from  which  it  is  obtained  by  washing.  It  is  in 
black  grains,  the  metallic  nature  of  which  is  only  re- 
cognisable by  the  great  weight.  This  is  a  pretty  ac* 
curate  description  of  stream  tin,  which  we  know  for- 
merly constituted  the  only  ore  of  that  metal  wrought 
in  Cornwall.  He  says  that  the  ore  occurs  also  along 
with  grains  of  gold ;  that  it  is  separated  from  the  soU 
by  washing  along  with  the  grains  of  gold,  and  after- 
wards smelted  separately. 

Pliny  gives  no  particulars  about  the  mode  of  re- 
ducing the  ore  of  tin  to  the  metallic  state ;  nor  is  it  a( 
all  likely  that  he  was  acquainted  with  the  process. 

The  Latin  term  for  tin  was  plumbum  album.  StanA 
num  is  also  used  by  Pliny;  but  it  is  impossible  to 
understand  the  account  which  he  gives  of  it.  There 
is,  he  says,  an  ore  consisting  of  lead,  united  to  silver. 
Wh^n  this  ore  is  smelted,  the  first  metal  that  flowt 
out  is  st annum.  What  flows  next  is  silver.  What 
remains  in  the  furnace  is  galena.  This  being  smelted^ 
yields  lead.  :i 

Were  we  to  admit  the  existence  of  an  ore  composed 
of  lead  and  silver,  it  is  obvious  that  no  such  product! 
could  be  obtained  by  simply  smelting  it.  i 

Cassiteros,  or  tin,  is  mentioned  by  Homer;  and^" 
from  the  way  in  which  the  metal  is  said  by  him  t»' 
have  been  used,  it  is  obvious  that  in  his  time  it  bom  ft 
much  higher  price,  and,  consequently,  was  more  valued 
than  at  present.  In  his  description  of  the  breastplate 
of  Agamemnon^  he  says  that  it  contained  ten  bands 


CHBMISTRT  OF  THE  AVCIEVTS,  ^ 

of  steel,  twelve  of  gold,  and  twenty  of  tin  (ca^inpoio).* 
And  in  the  twenty-third  book  of  the  Iliad  (line  561), 
Achilles  describes  a  copper  breastplate  surrounded 
with  shining  tin  (^tivov  Kcuratrepoio).  Pliny  informs 
us,  that  in  his  time  tin  was  adulterated  by  adding  to 
it  about  one-third  of  white  copper.  A  pound  of  tin, 
when  Pliny  lived,  cost  ten  denarii.  Now,  if  we  reckon 
a  denarius  at  7^d,,  with  Dr.  Arbuthnot,  this  would  make 
a  Roman  pound  of  tin  to  cost  6s»  5^d»  But,  as  the 
Roman  pound  was  only  equal  to  three-fourths  of  our 
avoirdupois  pound,  it  is  plain  that  in  the  time  of  Pliny 
an  avoirdupois  pound  of  tin  was  worth  85.  7j|€f.,  which 
is  almost  seven  times  the  price  of  tin  in  the  present 
day. 

Tin,  in  the  time  of  Pliny,  was  used  for  covering  the 
inside  of  copper  vessels,  as  it  is  at  this  day.  And,  no 
doubt,  the  process  still  followed  is  of  the  same  nature 
as  the  process  used  by  the  ancients  for  tinning  copper. 
Pliny  remarks,  with  surprise,  that  copper  thus  tinned 
does  not  increase  in  weight.  Now  Bayen  ascertained 
that  a  copper  pan,  nine  inches  in  diameter,  and  three 
inches  three  lines  in  depth,  when  tinned,  only  ac- 
quired an  additional  weight  of  twenty-one  grains. 
These  measures  and  weights  are  French.  When  we 
convert  them  into  English,  we  have  a  copper  pan  9*59 
inches  in  diameter,  and  3*46  inches  deep,  which,  when 
tinned,  increased  in  weight  17 '23  troy  grains.  Now 
the  surface  of  the  copper  pan,  thus  tinned,  was  176*468 
square  inches.  Hence  it  follows,  that  a  square  inch 
of  copper,  when  tinned,  increases  in  weight  only  0*097 
grains.  This  increase  is  so  small,  that  we  may  excuse 
Pliny,  who  probably  had  never  seen  the  increase  of 
weight  determined,  except  by  means  of  a  rude  Roman 
statera,  for  concluding  that  there  was  no  increase  of 
weight  whatever. 

Tin  was  employed  by  the  ancients  for  mirrors :  but 

.  •  nUd  xL  ^5. 


72  HISTORY  OF  CHEMIST&T. 

Argentarium  is  an  alloy  of  equal  parts  of  lead  and 
tin.  Tertiarium,  of  two  parts  lead  and  one  part  tin. 
It  was  used  as  a  solder. 

Some  preparations  of  lead  were  used  by  the  ancients 
in  medicine,  as  we  know  from  the  description  of  them 
given  us  by  Dioscorides  and  Pliny.  These  preparations 
consisted  chiefly  of  protoxide  of  lead  and  lead  reduced 
to  powder,  and  partially  oxidized  by  triturating  it 
with  water  in  a  mortar.  They  were  applied  to  ulcers, 
jand  employed  externally  as  astringents. 

Molybdena  was  also  employed  in  medicine.  Pliny 
says  It  was  the  same  as  galena.  From  his  descnption  -  ^ 
it  is  obvious  that  it  was  litharge ;  for  it  was  in  scales,  ^ 
and  was  more  valued  the  nearer  its  colour  approached  x 
to  that  of  gold.  It  was  employed,  as  it  still  is,  for  j 
making  plasters.  Pliny  gives  us  the  process  for  ■;^ 
making  the  plaster  employed  by  the  Roman  surgeons.. 
It  was  made  by  heating  together 

3  lbs.  molybdena  or  litharge, 

1  lb.  wax,  J 

3  heminse,  or  1 J  pint,  of  olive  oil.  -  ,* 

This  process  is  very  nearly  the  same  as  the  one  at  pre-  .^ 

sent  followed   by  apothecaries  for  making  adhesive   > 

plaster.  I 

Psimmythium,  or  cerussa,  was  the  same  as  our  white  .jl 
lead.  It  was  made  by  exposing  lead  in  sheets  to  ih^^t 
fumes  of  vinegar.  It  would  seem  probable  from  Pliny'sr^ 
account,  though  it  is  confused  and  inaccurate,  thatfij 
the  ancients  were  in  the  habit  of  dissolving  cerussa  ineJl 
vinegar,  and  thus  making  an  impure  acetate  of  lead,    js 

Cerussa  was  used  in  medicine.  It  constituted  also  ^ 
a  common  white  paint.  At  one  time,  Pliny  says,  ittjf 
was  found  native ;  but  in  his  time  all  that  was  usedub 
was  prepared  artificially.  v 

Cerussa  usta  seems  to  have  been  nearly  the  same  as  m,fy 
our  red  lead.  It  was  formed  accidentally  from  cerussi^  ^ 
during  the  burning  of  the  Pyrseus.     The  colour  was 
purple.     It  was  imitated  at  Rome  by  burning  silig 


..■jM 


CHBMT8TBY  (»  THB  AWCIBSTS,  73 

',  which  was  probably  a  variety  of  some  of 
our  ochres. 

8.  Besides  the  metals  above  enumerated,  the  an- 
cients were  also  acquainted  with  quicksilver.  Nothing 
is  known  about  the  first  discovery  of  this  metal ;  though 
it  obviously  precedes  the  commencement  of  history. 
I  am  not  aware  that  the  term  occurs  in  the  writings  of 
Mosea,     We  have  therefore  no  evidence  that  it  was 
known  to  the  Egyptians  at  that  early  period  ;  nor  do 
1  find  any  allusion  to  it  in  the  works  of  Herodotus. 
But  this  is  not  surprising,  as  that  author  confines  him- 
self chiefly  to  subjects  connected  with  history,     Dios- 
eorides  and  Pliny  both  mention  it  as  common  in  their 
'    time.     Dioscorides  gives  a  method  of  obtaining  it  by 
sublimation  from  cinnabar,     It  is  remarkable,  because 
I    it  constitutes  the  first  example  of  a  process  which  ulti- 
I    mately  led  to  distillation." 

Cinnabar  is  also  described  *by  Theophrastus.     The 

I  term  mtntum  was  applied  to  it  also,  till  in  consequence 
of  the  adulteration  of  cinnabar  with  red  lead,  the 
term  minium  came  at  last  to  be  restricted  to  that  pre- 
I  paration  of  lead.  Theophrastus  describes  an  artificial 
I  cinnabar,  which  came  from  the  country  above  Ephesus. 
It  was  a  shining  red-coloured  sand,  which  was  col- 

Ilected  and  reduced  to  a  fine  powder  by  pounding  it  in 
Vessels  of  stone.  We  do  not  know  what  it  was.  The 
native  cinnabar  was  found  in  Spain,  and  was  used 
chieily  as  a  paint.     Dioscorides  employs  mimam  as 

Ilhe  name  for  what  we  at  present  call  cinnabar,  or  bisul- 
phuret  of  mercury.     His  cinnabar  was  a  red   paint 
from  Africa,  produced  in  such   small  quantity  that 
[    paiotei's  could  scarcely  procure  enough  of  it  to  answer 

their  purposes. 
I        Mercury  is  described  by  Pliny  as  existing  native  in 
the  mines  of  Spain,  and  Dioscorides  gives  the  process 
for  extracting  it  from  cinnabar.     It  was  employed  in 

*.  Ditwcorjdeiij  iib.  r.,c.  110. 


74'  HISTOEY  or  CHEMISTRY. 

gilding  precisely  as  it  is  by  the  moderns.  Pliny  was 
aware  of  its  great  specific  gravity,  and  of  the  readiness 
with  which  it  dissolves  gold.  The  amalgam  was  squeezed 
through  leather,  which  separated  most  of  the  quicksilver. 
When  the  solid  amalgam  remaining  was  heated,  the 
mercury  was  driven  off  and  pure  gold  remained. 

It  is  obvious  from  what  Dioscorides  says,  that  the 
properties  of  mercury  were  very  imperfectly  known  to 
him.  He  says  that  it  may  be  kept  in  vessels  of  glass, 
or  of  lead,  or  of  tin,  or  of  silver.*  Now  it  is  well 
known  that  it  dissolves  lead,  tin,  and  silver  with  so 
much  rapidity,  that  vessels  of  these  metals,  were  mep» 
cury  put  into  them,  would  be  speedily  destroyed* 
Pliny's  account  of  quicksilver  is  rather  obscure.  It 
seems  doubtful  whether  he  was  aware  that  native  or* 
gentum  vivum  and  the  hydrargyrum  extracted  from 
cinnabar  were  the  same. 

Cinnabar  was  occasionally  used  as  an  eii^temal 
medicine ;  but  Pliny  disapproves  of  it,  assuring  hif 
readers  that  quicksilver  and  all  its  preparations  are 
virulent  poisons.  No  other  mercurial  preparationi 
except  cinnabar  and  the  amalgam  of  mercury  seeni 
to  have  been  known  to  the  ancients. f 

9.  The  ancients  were  unacquednted  with  the  metal 
to  which  we  at  present  give  the  name  of  antimaw^i 
but  several  of  the  ores  of  that  metal,  and  of  the  pvm 
ducts  of  these  ores  were  not  altogether  unknown^ 
them.  From  the  account  of  stimmi  and  stibium,  1^ 
Dioscorides];  and  Pliny,§  there  can  be  little  doubt  that 
these  names  were  applied  to  the  mineral  now  callMl 
sulphuret  of  antimony  or  crude  antimony.  It  is  fooad 
most  commonly,  Pliny  says,  among  the  ores  of  8ilv|r» 

*  Lib.  V.  c.  110. 

t  The  ancients  were  in  the  habit  of  extracting:  mercury  fiopil 
cinnabar,  by  a  kind  of  imperfect  distillation.  The  native  ms^ 
cury  they  called  argentumvivumy  that  from  cinnabar  hydrUt^ 
gyms.    See  Plinii  Hist.  Nat.  zxxiii.  8. 

^  Lib,  v.  c.  99.  $  Lib.  xzxiii.  c.  6. 


CHEMISTBT  OF  THE  AKCIEKTS.  75 

and  consists  of  two  kinds,  the  male  and  the  female ; 
the  latter  of  which  is  most  valued. 

Hiis  pigment  was  known  at  a  very  early  period, 
and  employed  by  the  Asiatic  ladies  in  painting  their 
eyelashes,  or  rather  the  insides  of  their  eyelashes, 
black.  Thus  it  is  said  of  Jezebel,  that  when  Jehu 
came  to  Jezreel  she  painted  her  face.  The  original 
is,  she  put  her  eyes  in  sulphuret  of  antimony  *  A 
similar  expression  occurs  in  Ezekiel,  "  For  whom 
thou  didst  wash  thyself,  paintedst  thy  eyes" — ^literally, 
put  thy  eyes  in  sulphuret  of  antimony,  f  ^This  custom 
of  painting  the  eyes  black  with  antimony  was  trans* 
ferred  from  Asia  to  Greece,  and  while  the  Moors  oc- 
cupied Spain  it  was  employed  by  the  Spanish  ladies 
also.  It  is  curious  that  the  term  alcoholy  at  present 
confined  to  spirit  of  vnne,  was  originally  applied  to 
the  powder  of  sulphuret  of  antimony.  J  The  ancients 
were  in  the  habit  of  roasting  sulphuret  of  antimony, 
and  thus  converting  it  into  an  impure  oxide.  This 
preparation  was  also  called  stimmi  and  stibium.  It  was 
employed  in  medicine  as  an  external  application,  and 
was  conceived  to  act  chiefly  as  an  astringent;  Dios- 
corides  describes  the  method  of  preparing  it.  We 
see,  from  Pliny's  account  of  stibium,  that  he  did  not 
distinguish  between  sulphuret  of  antimony  and  oxide 
of  antimony.  § 

9.  Some  of  the  compounds  of  arsenic  were  also 
known  to  the  ancients ;  though  they  were  neither  ac- 
quainted with  this  substance  in  the  metallic  state,  nor 
with  its  oxide ;  the  poisonous  nature  of  which  is  so 
violent  that  had  it  been  known  to  them  it  could  not 
have  been  omitted  by  Dioscorides  and  Pliny« 

*  12  Kings  ix.  30. 

f  Chap.  23.  V.  40,  the  Vulgate  has  it  forijSt^o)  tovq  6^9aX/«ovC 
ffov, 

X  Hartmanni  Praxis  Chemiatrica,  p.  598 
§  PlinU  Hist.  Nat.xxxiii.  6. 


76  HISTORY  or  CHEMISTRY, 

The  word  trav^apaxn  (sandarache)  occurs  in  Aristotle^ 
and  the  tenn  <ipp€vtxov  (arrenichon)  in  Theophrastus.* 
Dioscorides  uses  likewise  the  same  name  with  Aristotle. 
It  was  applied  to  a  scarlet-coloured  mineral,  which  oc- 
curs native,  and  is  now  known  by  the  name  of  realgar. 
It  is  a  compound  of  arsenic  and  sulphur.  It  was  em* 
ployed  in  medicine  both  externally  and  internally,  and 
is  recommended  by  Dioscorides,  as  an  excellent  re- 
medy for  an  inveterate  cough. 

Auripigmentum  and  arsenicum  were  names  given  to 
the  native  yellow  sulphuret  of  arsenic.  It  was  used 
in  the  same  way,  and  considered  by  Dioscorides  and 
Pliny  as  of  the  same  nature  with  realgar.  But  there 
is  no  reason  for  supposing  that  the  ancients  were  ac- 
quainted with  the  compositions  of  either  of  these 
bodies ;  far  less  that  they  had  any  suspicion  of  the 
existence  of  the  metal  to  which  we  at  present  give  the  * 
name  of  arsenic. 

Such  is  a  sketch  of  the  facts  known  to  the  ancients 
respecting  metals.      They   knew   the  six   malleable 
metals  which  are  still  in  common  use,  and  applied 
them  to  most  of  the  purposes  to  which  the  modems 
apply  them.  Scarcely  any  information  has  been  left  us 
of  the  methods  employed  by  them  to  reduce  these 
metals  from  their  ores.     But  unless  the  ores  were 
of  a  much  simpler  nature  than  the  modern  ores  of  . 
these  metals,  of  which  we  have  no  evidence,  tha 
smelting  processes  with  which  the  ancients  were  fami- 
liar, could  scarcely  have  been  contrived  without  a 
knowledge  of  the  substances  united  with  the  different 
metals  in  their  ores,  and  of  the  means  by  which  these 
foreign  bodies  could  be  separated,  and  the  metals  isor 
lated  from  all  impurities.    This  doubtless  implied  a* 
certain  quantity  of  chemical  knowledge,  which  having 
been  handed  down  to  the  moderns,  served  as  a  fbunda-' 
tion  upon  which  the  modern  science  of  chemistry  was 

« 

♦  ncpiTwvXjiOwvjC.Tl, 


CHEMISTRY  or  ■TflE   AVPJSItTS. 


71 


p;adually  reared :  at  the  same  time  it  will  be  admitted 
that  this  foundation  was  very  slender,  and  would  of 
itself  have  led  to  little.  Most  of  the  oxides,  sul- 
phurets,  &c.,  and  almost  all  the  salts  into  which  these 
metallic  bodies  enter,  were  unknown  to  the  ancients. 
Besides  the  wockiog  in  metals  there  were  some  olher 
branches  of  industry  practised  by  the  ancients,  so  in- 
timately connected  with  chemical  science,  that  it 
would  be  improper  to  pass  them  over  in  silence.  The 
~        important  of  these  are  the  following : 


w 


I, COLOURS  USED  BY  PAINTERS, 


s  well  known  that  the  ancient  Grecian  artists 
carried  the  art  of  painting  lo  the  highest  degree  of 
perfection,  and  that  their  paintings  were  admired  and 
sought  after  by  the  most  eminent  and  accomplished 
men  of  antiquity  ;  and  Pliny  gives  us  a  catalogue  of 
a  great  number  of  lirst-rate  pictures,  and  a  historical 
account  of  a  vast  many  celebrated  painters  of  anti- 
quity. In  his  own  time,  he  says,  the  art  of  painting 
had  lost  its  importance,  statues  and  tablets  having 
came  in  place  of  pictures. 

Two  kinds  of  colours  were  employed  by  the  an- 
cients :  namely,  the  florid  and  the  austere.  The  florid 
Golotin,  as  enumerated  by  Pliny,  were  minium,  arme- 
nium,  cinnaberis,  ckrysocotla,  purpurissuin,  and  jn- 
(Knun  pvrpurtMu  m . 

The  word  minium   aa  used   by  Pliny  means  red 
lead:  tbough  Dioscorides  employs  it  for  bisulphutet 
of  mercury  or  cinnabar. 
ATmenium  was  obviously  an  ochre,  probably  of  a 
1    yellow  or  orange  colour. 

I      Mimaberis  was  bisulphuret  of  mercury,  which  is 

I    Vrown  to  have  a  scarlet  colour.     Dioscorides  employs 

'    it  lo  denote  a  vegetable  red  colour,  probably  similar  to 

tlit^  resin  at  presen.  called  dragon's  blood. 

ChnfsocoUa  was  a  green -col  cured  paint,  and  iioicv 


78  HISTOHY  or  CHEHISTET^ 

Plmy'fl  description  of  it,  could  have  been  nothing  elM 
than  carbonate  of  copper  or  malachite. 

Purpurissum  was  a  lake,  as  is  obyious  fix>m  the 
account  of  its  formation  given  by  Pliny.  The  colour-* 
ing  matter  is  not  specified,  but  from  the  term  used 
there  can  be  little  doubt  that  it  was  the  liquor  frcmi  the 
shellfish  that  yielded  the  celebrated  purple  dye  of 
the  Tynans. 

Indicum  purpurissum  was  probably  indigo.  This 
might  be  implied  from  the  account  of  it  gi^en  by 
Pliny. 

The  austere  colours  used  by  the  ancient  painters 
were  of  two  kinds,  native  and  artificial.     The  native 
were  siriopis,  rubrica,  parcRtonium,  melinum,  eretria, 
auripigmentum.     The  artificial  were,  ochra,  cerussel  . 
usta,  sandaracha,  sandy x,  syricum,  atramentum, 

Sinopis  is  the  red  substance  now  knovm  by  the 
name  of  reddle,  and  used  for  marking.  On  that  ac« 
count  it  is  sometimes  called  red  chalk.  It  was  found 
in  Pontus,  in  the  Balearian  islands,  and  in  Egypt. 
The  price  was  three  denarii,  or  Is,  lljrf.  the  pound 
weight.  The  most  famous  variety  of  sinopis  was 
from  the  isle  of  Lemnos ;  it  was  sold  sealed  and 
stamped  :  hence  it  was  called  sphragis.  It  was  em- 
ployed to  adulterate  minium.  In  medicine  it  wai 
used  to  appease  infiammation,  and  as  an  antidote  to 
poison. 

Ochre  is  merely  sinopis  heated  in  a  covered  vessel. 
The  higher  the  temperature  to  which  it  has  been  ex- 
posed the  better  it  is. 

Leucophorum  is  a  compound  of 

'  6  lbs.  sinopis  of  Pontus,  C 

10  lbs.  siris,  ';. 

2  lbs.  melinum,  < 

triturated  together  for  thirty  days.     It  was  used  t^ 

make  gold  adhere  to  wood.  \' 

Rubrica  from  the  name,  was  probably  a  red  ochres 

JParatonivm  was  a  white  colour,  so  called  frcMn  a 


CHEXISTItT  OF  THE  AKCISirrS.  79 

pktee'in  l^ypt^  where  it  was  founds  It  was  obtained 
also  in  the  island  of  Crete,  and  in  Cyrene.  It  wa* 
said  to  be  a  combination  of  the  froth  of  the  sea  con- 
solidated with  mud.  It  consisted  probably  of  car- 
bonate of  lime.  Six  pounds  of  it  cost  only  one 
denarius. 

Melinum  was  also  a  white-coloured  powder  found 
In  Melos  and  Samos  in  yeins.  It  was  most  probably 
a  carbonate  of  lime. 

Eretria  was  named  from  the  place  where  it  was 
found.  Pliny  gives  its  medical  properties,  but  does 
not  inform  us  of  its  colour.  It  is  impossible  to  say 
what  it  was. 

-  Auripigmentttm  was  yellow  sulphuret  of  arsenic. 
It  was  probably  but  little  used  as  a  pigment  by  the 
ancient  painters. 

Cerussa  usta  was  red  lead. 

Sandaracha  was  red  sulphuret  of  arsenic.  The 
pound  of  sandaracha  cost  5  as. :  it  was  imitated  by 
red  lead.  Both  it  and  ochra  were  found  in  the  island 
Topazos  in  the  Red  Sea. 

Sandy X  was  made  by  torrefying  equal  parts  of  true 
sandaracha  and  sinopis.  It  cost  half  the  price  of  san- 
daracha. Virgil  mistook  this  pigment  for  a  plant,  as  is 
obvious  from  the  following  line  : 

Sponte  sua  sandix,  pascentes  vestiet  agnos.* 

Siricum  is  made  by  mixing  sinopis  and  sandyx. 

Atramentum  was  obviously  from  Pliny's  account  of 
It  lamp-black.  He  mentions  ivory-black  as  ah  in- 
vention of  Apelles :  it  was  called  elephantinum. 
There  was  a  native  atramentum,  which  had  the  colour 
of  sulphur,  and  got  a  black  colour  artificially.  It  is 
not  unlikely  that  it  contained  sulphate  of  iron,  and 
that  it  got  Its  black  colour  from  the  admixture  of  some 
astringent  substance. 

•Bucolir.L45, 


80  BIStO&T  OF  CHEMISTHT. 

The  ink  of  the  ancients  was  lamp-black  mixed  widi 
water,  containing  gum  or  glue  dissolved  in  it.  Atrm^ 
mentum  indicum  was  the  same  as  our  China  ink. 

The  purpurissum  was  a  high-priced  pigment,  h 
was  made  by  putting  creta  argentaria  (a  species  <rf 
white  clay)  into  the  caldrons  containing  the  ingfOM 
dienU  for  dying  purple.  The  creta  imbibed  the  purpli 
colour  and  became  purpurissum.  The  first  portion  cl 
creta  put  in  constituted  the  finest  and  highest-pricat 
pigment.  The  portions  put  in  afterws^s  becam 
successively  worse,  and  were,  of  consequence  loww 
priced.  We  see,  from  this  description,  that  it  was^ 
lake  similar  to  our  modem  cochineal  lakes.*  tr 

That  the  purpurissum  indicum  was  indigo  is  ok 
vious  from  the  statement  of  Pliny,  that  when  thiuwj 
upon  hot  coals  it  gives  out  a  beautiful  purple  flanMi 
This  constitutes  the  character  of  indigo.  Its  price  m 
Pliny's  time  was  ten  denarii,  or  six  shillings  and  fivfr 
pence  halfpenny  the  Roman  pound ;  which  is  equifti 
lent  to  85.  l\d,  the  avoirdupois.  --^ 

Though  few  or  none  of  the  ancient  pictures  hMi 
been  preserved,  yet  several  specimens  of  the  co' 
used  by  them  still  remain  in  Rome  and  in  the  ru 
Herculaneum.     Among  others  the  fresco  pain 
in  the  baths  of  Titus,  still  remain ;  and  as  liiese 
made  for  a  Roman  emperor,  we  might  expect  to 
the  most  beautiful  and  costly  colours  employed 
them.     These  paints,  and  some  others,  were  examin 
by  Sir  Humphrey  Davy,  in  1813,   while  he  wat 
Rome.     From  his  researches  we  derive  some  pi 
accurate  information  respecting  the  colours  emp 
by  the  painters  of  Greece  and  Rome. 

1 .  Red  paints*  Three  different  kinds  of  red 
found  in  a  chamber  opened  in  1811,  in  the  bat] 
Titus,  namely,  a  bright  orange  red,  a  dull  red, 

brown  red.    The  bright  orange  red  was  miniumy,^ 

.-  —  .i 

*  Plinu  HiBt,  Nat.  wxv.  6,  M 


CHSMISTKT  OF  THK  AUCIEVTS.  81 

ftd  lead;  the  other  two  were  merely  two  varieties  of 
iron  ochres,  Ancpther  still  brighter  red  was  obsen-ed 
on  the  walls;  it  proved,  on  examination,  to  be  vermi- 
lion or  cinnabar. 

2.  Yellow  painlg.  All  the  yellows  examined  by 
Davy  proved  to  be  iron  ochres,  sometimes  mixed  with 
a  little  red  lead.  Orpimeat  wns  undoubtedly  em- 
ployed, as  is  obvious  from  what  Pliny  says  on  the 
subject :  but  Davy  found  no  traces  of  it  among  the 
yellow  colours  which  he  examined.  A  very  deep 
yellow,  approaching  orange,  which  covered  a  piece  of 
stucco  in  the  ruins  near  the  monument  of  Caius  Ces- 
tius,  proved  to  be  protoxide  of  lead,  or  massicot, 
mixed  with  some  red  lead.  The  yellows  in  the  Aldo- 
brandini  pictures  were  all  ochres,  and  so  were  those 
in  the  pictures  on  the  walls  of  the  houses  at  Pompeii. 

3.  Blue  paints.  Different  shades  of  blues  are  used 
in  the  different  apartments  of  the  baths  of  Titus,  which 
are  darker  or  lighter,  as  they  contain  more  or  less 
carbonate  of  lime  with  which  the  blue  pigment  bad  been 
mixed  by  the  painter.  This  blue  pigment  turned  out, 
on  examination,  to  be  a  frit  composed  of  alkali  and 

I     silica,  fused  togetherwithacertainquantityofoxideof 
I     copper.     Thiswas  the  colour  called  xifvoe  (chianoi) 
by  the  Greeks,  and  cmruleum  by  the  Romans.    Vitru- 
I     *ius   gives  the  method  of  preparing   it  by  heating 
I     strongly  together  sand,  carbonate  of  soda,  and  tilings 
I     of  copper.     Davy  found  that  fifteen  parts  by  weight 
I    of  anhydrous  carbonate  of  soda,  twenty  parts  of  pow- 
dered Opaque  flints,  and  three  parts  of  copper  filings, 
I    nrongly  heated  together  for  two  hours,  gave  a  sub- 
stance  exactly  similar  to  the  blue  pigment  of  the 
t     ancients,  and  which,  when  powdered,  produced  a  fine 
deep  blue  colour.     This  ceeruleum  has  the  advantage 
of  remaining  unaltered   even  when  the  painting  is 
exposed  to  the  actions  of  the  air  and  sun. 

There  is  reason  lo  suspect,  from  what  Vitruvius  and 
Pliny  say,  that  glass  rendered  blue  by  means  ot  cq- 

VOl.  J.        -  o 


83  mSTO&T  Of  CHEinSTET. 

bait  constituted  the  basis  of  some  of  the  blue  pigments 
of  the  ancients ;  but  all  those  examined  by  Davy  con« 
sisted.  of  glass  tinged  blue  by  copper,  without  any 
trace  of  cobalt  whatever. 

'  4.  Oreen  paints.  All  the  green  paints  examined  by 
Davy  proved  to  be  carbonates  of  copper,  more  or  less 
mixed  with  carbonate  of  lime.  I  have  already  men* 
tioned  that  verdigris  was  known  to  the  ancients.  It 
was  no  doubt  employed  by  them  as  a  pigment,  though 
it  is  not  probable  that  the  acetic  acid  would  be  able 
to  withstand  the  action  of  the  atmosphere  for  a  couple 
of  thousand  years. 

5.  Purple  paints,  Davy  ascertained  that  the  colour- 
ing matter  of  the  ancient  purple  was  combustible.  >  It 
did  not  give  out  the  smell  of  ammonia,  at  least  per- 
ceptibly. There  is  little  doubt  that  it  was  the  pwrpfu^ 
rissum  of  the  ancients,  or  a  clay  coloured  by  means 
of  the  purple  of  the  buccinum  employed  by  the  Syrians 
in  the  celebrated  purple  dye. 

6.  Black  and  brown  paints.  The  black  paints  were 
lamp-black :  the  browns  were  some  of  them  ochres  and 
some  of  them  oxides  of  manganese. 

7.  White  paints.  All  the  ancient  white  paints  ex- 
amined by  Davy  were  carbonates  of  lime.*  We  know 
from  Pliny  that  white  lead  was  employed  by  the 
ancients  as  a  pigment ;  but  it  might  probably  become 
altered  in  its  nature  by  long-continued  exposure  to 
the  weather. 

Ill, — GLASS. 

It  is  admitted  by  some  that  the  word  which  in  our 
English  Bible  is  translated  crystal,  means  glass,  in 
the  following  passage  of  Job :  *'  The  gold  and  the 
crystal  cannot  equal  it."t  Now  although  the  exaet 
time  when  Job  was  written  is  not  known,  it  is  admitted 
on  all  hands  to  be  one  of  the  oldest  of  the  books  cott 

♦  Pba.'  Trans.  18U,  p.  97.  -V  Job  xxnii.  17 


CHSHIST&T  Of  THE  AVCIEITTS.  8S 

led  in  the  Old  Testament.  There  are  strong;  reai^^ 
s  for  believing  that  it  existed  before  the  time  of 
sea ;  and  some  go  so  far  as  to  affirm  that  there  are 
3ral  allusions  to  it  in  the  writings  of  Moses.  If 
refore  glass  were  known  when  the  Book  of  Job  was 
tten,  it  is  obvious  that  the  discovery  of  it  preoeded 
commencement  of  history.  But  even  though  tht 
d  used  in  Job  should  not  refer  to  glass,  there  can 
QO  doubt  that  it  was  known  at  a  very  early  period  ; 
glass  beads  are  frequently  found  on  the  Egyptian 
tnmieSy  and  they  are  known  to  have  bfden  embalmed 
very  remote  period.  The  first  Greek  author  who  usee 
word  glass  (voXoc,  hyalos)  is  Aristophanes.  In  his 
ledy  of  The  Clouds,  act  ii.  scene  1,  in  the  ridicu- 
3  dialogue  between  Socrates  and  Strepsiades,  the 
er  announces  a  method  which  had  occurred  to  him 
>ay  his  debts.  "  You  know,"  says  he,  "  the  beautiM 
laparent  stone  used  for  kindling  fire."  ''  Do  you 
wa  glass  (rov  tioXov,  ton  AyaZon)?"  replied  Socrates.  '<  I 
"  was  the  answer.  He  then  describes  how  he  would 
troy  the  writings  by  means  of  it,  and  thus  defraud 
creditors.  Now  this  comedy  was  acted  about  four 
idred  and  twenty-three  years  before  the  beginning 
the  Christian  era.  The  story  related  by  Pliuy,  re- 
cting  the  discovery  of  this  beautiful  and  important 
•stance,  is  well  known.  Some  Phoenician  merchants, 
a  ship  loaded  with  carbonate  of  soda  from  Egypt, 
pped,  and  went  ashore  on  the  banks  of  the  river 
us :  having  nothing  to  support  their  kettles  while 
y  were  dressing  their  food,  they  employed  lumps  of 
bonate  of  soda  for  that  purpose.  The  fire  was 
mg  enough  to  fuse  some  of  this  soda,  and  to  unite 
•rith  the  fine  sand  of  the  river  Belus:  the  conse- 
ince  of  this  was  the  formation  of  glass.*  Whether 
)  story  be  entitled  to  credit  or  not,  it  is  clear  that 

*  Plinii  Hist.  Nat.  xxzvi.  26. 
G  2 


84  HISTOUT  OF  CHEMISTBY. 

the  discovery  must  have  originated  in  some  such  acd- 
dent.  Pliny's  account  of  the  manufacture  of  glass/  like 
his  account  of  every  other  manufacture,  is  very  imper* 
feet :  but  we  see  from  it  that  in  his  time  they  were  in 
the  habit  of  making  coloured  glasses ;  that  colourless 
glasses  were  most  highly  prized,  and  that  glass  was 
rendered  colourless  ^cn  as  it  is  at  present,  by  the 
addition  of  a  certain  quantity  of  oxide  of  manganese. 
Colourless  glass  was  very  high  priced  in  Pliny's  time. 
He  relates,  that  for  two  moderate-sized  colourless 
drinking-glasses  the  Emperor  Nero  paid  6000  sistertii,  .. 
which  is  equivalent  to  25Z.  of  our  money. 

Pliny  relates  the  story  of  the  man  who  brought  ft 
vessel  of  malleable  glass  to  the  Emperor  Tiberius,  and 
who,  after  dimpling  it  by  dashing  it  against  the  floor, 
restored  it  to  its  original  shape  and  beauty  by  means 
of  a  hammer ;  Tiberius,  as  a  reward  for  this  important 
discovery,  ordered  the  artist  to  be  executed,  in  order, 
as  he  alleged,  to  prevent  gold  and  silver  from  becom-* 
ing  useless.  But  though  Pliny  relates  this  story,  it  is 
evident  that  he  does  not  give  credit  to  it ;  nor  does  it 
tleserve  credit.  We  can  assign  no  reason  why  mal* 
leable  substances  may  not  be  transparent ;  but  all  of 
them  hitherto  known  are  opaque.  Chloride  of  silver, 
chloride  of  lead  and  iron  constitute  no  exception,  for 
they  are  not  malleable,  though  by  peculiar  contrivancec  < 
they  may  be  extended ;  and  their  transparency  is  very 
imperfect.  > 

Many  specimens  of  the  coloured  glasses  made  hf 
the  ancients  still  remain,  particularly  the  beads  em* 
ployed  as  ornaments  to  the  Egyptian  mummies.  Of 
these  ancient  glasses  several  have  been  examined  cbet 
mically  by  Klaproth,  Hatchett,  and  some  other  indi* 
viduals,  in  order  to  ascertain  the  substances  employed 
to  give  colour  to  the  glass.  The  following  are  tibii 
facts  that  have  been  ascertained : 

1.  Red  glass.    This  glass  was  opaque,  and  of  ^ 


CHEMISTRY  OF  THE   AKCIEKTS.  85 

lively  copper-red  colour.  It  was  probably  the  kind  of 
red  glass  to  which  Pliny  gave  the  name  of  heematinon* 
Klaproth  analyzed  it,  and  obtained  from  100  grains 
of  it  the  following  constituents  : 

Silica 71 

Oxide  of  lead 10 

Oxide  of  copper  .....     7*5 

Oxide  of  iron 1 

Alumina 2*5 

lime 1*5 


93-5* 
No  doubt  the  deficiency  was  owing  to  the  presence  of 
an  alkali.     From  this  analysis  we  see  that  the  colour* 
ing  matter  of  this  glass  was  red  oxide  of  copper, 

2.  Green  glass.  The  colour  was  light  verdigris- 
green,  and  the  glass,  like  the  preceding,  was  opaque* 
The  constituents  from  100  grains  were, 

Silica 65 

Black  oxide  of  copper     .     .  10    • 

Oxide  of  lead 7-5 

Oxide  of  iron 3*5 

Lime 6'5 

Alumina      ......     5*5 


98-Ot 
Thus  it  appears  that  both  the  red  and  green  glass  are 
composed  of  the  same  ingredients,  though  in  different 
proportions.  Both  owe  their  colour  to  copper.  The 
red  glass  is  coloured  by  the  red  oxide  of  that  metal ; 
the  green  by  the  black  oxide,  which  forms  green- 
coloured  compounds,  with  various  acids,  particularly 
with  carbonic  acid  and  with  silica. 

3.  Blue  glass.    The  variety  analyzed  by  Klaproth 
had  a  sapphire-blue  colour^  and  was  only  translucent 

• 

•  Beitrage,  vi.  140.  f  Ibid.,  p.  142. 


i6  filSTOllY  OP  CHEMISTRY. 

on  the  edges.    The  constituents  from  100  grains  of  it 

were, 

SUica 81-5 

Oxide  of  iron  •  •  •  •  •  9*  5 
Alumina  ..•»••  1*  5 
Oxide  of  copper  .  •  »  •  0*  5 
Lime 0-25 


93-26 

From  this  analysis  it  appears  that  the  colouring  matter 
of  this  glass  was  oxide  of  iron :  it  was  therefore  ana- 
logous to  the  lapis  lazuli,  or  ultramarine,  in  its  nature. 

Davy,  as  has  been  formerly  noticed,  found  anothef 
blue  glass,  or  frit,  coloured  by  means  of  copper ;  and 
he  showed  that  the  blue  paint  of  the  ancients  wai 
often  made  from  this  glass,  simply  by  grinding  it  to 
powder. 

Klaproth  could  find  no  cobalt  in  the  blue  glasi^ 
which  he  examined ;  but  Davy  found  the  transparent 
blue  glass  vessels,  which  are  along  with  the  vases,  in 
the  tombs  of  Magna  Graecia,  tinged  with  cobalt ;  and 
he  found  cobalt  in  all  the  transparent  ancient  blue 
glasses  with  which  Mr,  Millingen  supplied  him.  The 
mere  fusion  of  these  glasses  with  alkali,  and  subse-> 
quent  digestion  of  the  product  with  muriatic  acid,  was 
sufficient  to  produce  a  sympathetic  ink  from  them,  f 
The  transparent  blue  beads  which  occasionally  adoriC 
the  Egyptian  mummies  have  also  been  examined,  and 
found  coloured  by  cobalt.  The  opaque  glass  beads 
are  all  tinged  by  means  of  oxide  of  copper.  It  it 
probable  from  this  that  all  the  transparent  blue  glassel 
of  the  ancients  were  coloured  by  cobalt ;  yet  we  find 
no  allusion  to  cobalt  in  any  of  the  ancient  authoitl 
Theophrastus  says  that  copper  {x*^\i^og,  chalcos)  was  used 
to  give  glass  a  fine  colour.  Is  it  not  likely  that  the  imrt 

»  Beitrage,  p.  144.  f  PhU.  Trans.  1815,  p.  108. '  " 


CHSHXSTaT  OF  THE  AVCUSSTB.  8Y 

pure  oiide  of  cobalt,  in  the  state  in  which  they  nsed 
it,  was  confounded  by  them  with  xaXicoc  (chalcos)  ? 

IV. — VASA   MUaRHINA. 

The  Romans  obtained  from  the  east,  and  particu* 
larly  from  Egypt,  a  set  of  vessels  which  they  distin* 
guished  by  the  name  of  vasa  murrhina,  and  which 
were  held  by  them  in  very  high  estimation.  They 
were  never  Isu'ger  than  to  be  capable  of  containinff 
frcmi  about  thirty-six  to  forty  cubic  inches.  One  of 
the  largest  size  cost,  in  tlie  time  of  Pliny,  about  7000/* 
Nero  actually  gave  for  one  3000Z.  They  began  to  be 
known  in  Rome  about  the  latter  days  of  the  republic* 
The  first  six  ever  seen  in  Rome  were  sent  by  Pompey 
from  the  treasures  of  Mithridates.  They  were  depo* 
sited  in  the  temple  of  Jupiter  in  the  capitol.  Augus- 
tus, after  the  battle  of  Actium,  brought  one  of  these 
vessels  from  Egypt,  and  dedicated  it  also  to  the  gods. 
In  Nero's  time  they  began  to  be  used  by  private  per- 
sons ;  and  were  so  much  coveted  that  Petronius,  the 
favourite  of  that  tyrant,  being  ordered  for  execution, 
and  conceiving  that  his  death  was  owing  to  a  wish  of 
Nero  to  get  possession  of  a  vessel  of  this  kind  which 
he  had,  broke  the  vessel  in  pieces  in  order  to  prevent 
Nero  from  gaining  his  object. 

There  appear  to  have  been  two  kinds  of  these  vasa 
murrhina ;  those  that  came  from  Asia,  and  those  that 
were  made  in  Egypt.  The  latter  were  much  more 
common,  and  much  lower  priced  than  the  former,  as 
appears  from  various  passages  in  Martial  and  Pro- 
pertius. 

Many  attempts  have  been  made,  and  much  learning 
displayed  by  the  modems  to  determine  the  nature  of 
these  celebrated  vessels ;  but  in  general  these  attempts 
were  made  by  individuals  too  little  acquainted  with 
chemistry  and  with  natural  history  in  general  to  qualify 
them  for  researches  of  so  difficult  a  nature.  Some 
will  have  it  that  they  consisted  of  a  kind  of  gum ; 


88  HISTORY  OF  CUEUISTBrT* 

Others  that  they  were  made  of  glass ;  others,  of  a  par-*' 
ticular  kind  of  shell.  Cardan  and  Scaliger  assure  us 
that  they  were  porcelain  vessels ;  and  this  opinion  was 
adopted  likewise  by  Whitaker,  who  supported  it  with 
his  usual  violence  and  arrogance.  Many  conceive 
them  to  have  been  made  of  some  precious  stone,  some 
that  they  were  of  obsidian ;  Count  de  Veltheim  thinks 
that  they  were  made  of  the  Chinese  agalmatolite^  or 
Jigure  stone ;  and  Dr.  Hager  conceives  that  they  were 
made  fi'om  the  Chinese  stone  yu.  Bruckmann  was  of 
opinion  that  these  vessels  were  made  of  sardonyx,  and 
the  Abb4  Winckelmann  joins  him  in  the  same  con- 
clusion. 

Pliny  informs  us  that  these  vasa  murrhina  were 
formed  from  a  species  of  stone  dug  out  of  the  earth  in 
Parthia,  and  especially  in  Carimania,  and  also  in  other 
places  but  little  known.*  They  must  have  been  very 
abundant  at  Rome  in  the  time  of  Nero ;  for  Pliny 
informs  us  that  a  man  of  consular  rank,  famous  for 
his  collection  of  vasa  murrhina,  having  died,  Nero 
forcibly  deprived  his  children  of  these  vessels,  and  they 
were  so  numerous  that  they  filled  the  whole  inside  of 
a  theatre,  which  Nero  hoped  to  have  seen  .filled  with 
Romans  when  he  came  to  it  to  sing  in  public.     * 

It  is  clear  that  the  value  of  these  vessels  depended 
on  their  size.  Small  vessels  bore  but  a  small  price,  while 
that  of  large  vessels  was  very  high;  this  shows  us  thai; 
it  must  have  been  difficult  to  procure  a  block  of  the 
stone  out  of  which  they  were  cut,  of  a  size  sufficiently 
great  to  make  a  large  vessel. 

These  vessels  were  so  soft  that  an  impression  migfak 
be  made  upon  them  with  the  teeth;  for  Pliny  relataf 
the  story  of  a  man  of  consular  rank,  who  drank  out  m 
one,  and  was  so  enamoured  with  it  that  he  bit  pieoee 
out  of  the  lip  of  the  cup :  "  Potavit  ex  eo  ante  boi 
annos  consularis,  ob  amorem  abraso  ejus  margine^lf 

•  FUnu  Hist.  Nat.  xxsvii.  2. 


^^ 


ClIEMlSTflV   OF  THE   ANCIENTS. 

And  what  is  sin^lar,  the  value  of  the  cup,  so  far  from 
being  injured  by  tliia  abrasure,  was  augmented  :  "  ut 
tamen  injuria  ilia  pretium  augeret;  neque  est  hodie 
murrhini  alteriua  prsstantior  indicatura."*  It  is  clear 
from  this  that  the  matter  of  these  vessels  was  neither 
rock  crystal,  agate, nor  any  precious  stone  whatever,  all 
of  which  are  too  hard  to  admit  of  an  impression  from 
the  teeth  of  a  man. 

The  lustre  was  vitreous  to  such  a  degree  that  the 
name  vitrum  miiTrhinum  was  given  to  the  artificial 
fabric,  in  Egypt. 

The  splendour  was  not  very  great,  for  Pliny  ob- 
serves, "  Splendor  his  sine  viribus  nitorque  verius 
quam  splendor." 

The  colours,  from  their  depth  and  richness,  werewhat 
gave  these  vessels  theit  value  and  excited  admiration. 
The  principal  colours  were  purple  and  white,  disposed 
in  undulating  bands,  and  usually  separated  by  a  third 
band,  in  which  the  two  colours  being  mixed,  assumed 
the  tint  of  flame :  "  Sed  in  pretio  varietas  colorum, 
subinde  circumagentibus  se  maculis  in  purpuram  can- 
doremque,  et  tertiuin  ex  utroque  ignescentem,  velut 
per  transitum  coloris,  purpura  rubescente,  aut  lacte 
candescente." 

Perfect  transparency  was  considered  as  a  defect, 
they  were  merely  translucent;  this  we  learn  not  merely 
frora  Pliny,  but  from  the  following  epigram  of  IWartial : 

Nob  bibimus  vitro,  tu  tnurrH,  Pantice  :  qunre  ? 
Prodat  perBpicuus  ne  duo  vinacalix, 

Some  specimens,  and  they  were  the  most  valued,  ex- 
hibited a  play  of  colour  like  the  rainbow:  Pliny  says 
ihey  were  very  commonly  spotted  with  "  sales,  verrucse- 
que  non  eminentes,  sed  iit  in  cprpore  etiam  plerumque 
sessiles."  TTiis,  no  doubt,  refers  to  foreign  bodies, 
such  as  grains  of  pyrites,   antimony,   galena,  ic, 

•  Plibu  £U«t.  Nat,  zzzvii.  2. 


90  HI8T0UT  OF  CHEMIST&T. 

which  were  often  scattered  through  the  substance 
of  which  the  vessels  were  made. 

Such  are  all  the  facts  respecting  the  vasa  murrhinft 
to  be  found  in  the  writings  of  the  ancients ;  they  all 
apply  to  fluor  spar,  and  to  nothing  else;  but  to  it 
they  apply  so  accurately  as  to  leave  little  doubt  that 
they  were  in  reality  vessels  of  fluor  spar,  similar  to 
those  at  present  made  in  Derbyshire.* 

The  artificial  vasa  murrhina  made  at  Thebes,  in 
Egypt,  were  doubtless  of  glass,  coloured  to  imi- 
tate fluor  spar  as  much  as  possible,  and  having  tha 
semi-transparency  which  distinguishes  that  mineral. 
The  imitations  being  imperfect,  these  factitious  vessels 
were  not  much  prized  nor  sought  after  by  the  Romans^ 
they  were  rather  distributed  among  the  Arabians  and 
Ethiopians,  who  were  supplied  with  glass  from  Egypt. 

Rock  crystal  is  compared  by  Pliny  with  the  stonft 
from  which  the  vasa  murrhina  were  made ;  the  former, 
in  his  opinion,  had  been  coagulated  by  cold,  the  lattet 
by  heat.  Though  the  ancients,  as  we  have  seen,  were 
acquainted  with  the  method  of  colouring  glass,  yet 
they  prized  colourless  glass  highest  on  account  of  its 
resemblance  to  rock  crystal;  cups  of  it,  in  Pliny's 
time,  had  supplanted  those  of  silver  and  gold ;  Nero 
gave  for  a  crystal  cup  150,000  sistertii,  or  625/. 

V. — DYEING   AND   CALlCO-PRINTlNG. 

Very  little  has  been  handed  down  by  the  ancients 
respecting  the  processes  of  dyeing.  It  is  evident,  from 
Pliny,  that  they  were  acquainted  with  madder,  an4 
that  preparations  of  iron  were  used  in  the  black  dyes# 
The  most  celebrated  dye  of  all,  the  purple,  was  dis^^ 

*  This  opinion  was  first  formed  by  Baron  Bom,  and  ttaltd 
in  his  Catalogue  of  Minerals  in  M.  E.  Raab's  collection,  i.  35S. 
But  the  evidences  in  favour  of  it  have  been  brought  fbrwftffdl 
with  great  clearness  and  force  by  M.  Roziere.  See  Jour,  de 
Mln,  xzzvi.  193, 


CHBMMTRT  07  TBB  AVCIXKTS.  91 

covered  hy  the  Tyrians  about  fifteen  centuries  before 
the  Christian  era.  This  colour  was  given  by  varioua 
kinds  of  shellfish  which  inhabit  the  Mediterranean* 
Pliny  divides  them  into  two  genera;  the  first,  compre- 
hending the  smaller  species,  he  called  buccinunif  from 
their  resemblance  to  a  hunting-horn ;  the  second,  in-* 
eluded  those  called  purpura :  Fabius  Columna  thinktt 
that  these  were  distinguished  also  by  the  name  of 
murex. 

These  shellfish  yielded  liquor  of  different  shades  of 
colour ;  they  were  often  mixed  in  various  proportions 
to  produce  particular  shades  of  colour.  One,  or  at 
most  two  drops  of  this  liquor  were  obtained  from  each 
fish^  by  extracting  and  opening  a  little  reservoir  placed 
in  the  throat.  To  avoid  this  trouble,  the  smaller  spe- 
cies were  generally  bruised  whole,  in  a  mortar;  this 
was  also  frequently  done  with  the  large,  though  the 
other  liquids  of  the  fish  must  have  in  some  degree  in-* 
jured  the  colour.  The  liquor,  when  extracted,  was 
mixed  with  a  considerable  quantity  of  salt  to  keep  it 
from  putrifying ;  it  was  then  diluted  with  five  or  six 
times  as  much  water,  and  kept  moderately  hot  in 
leaden  or  tin  vessels,  for  eight  or  ten  days,  during 
which  the  liquor  was  often  skimmed  to  separate  all 
the  impurities.  After  this,  the  wool  to  be  dyed, 
being  first  well  washed,  was  immersed  and  kept  therein 
for  five  hours;  then  taken  out,  cooled,  and  again  im- 
mersed, and  continued  in  the  liquor  till  all  the  colour 
Was  exhausted.* 

To  produce  particular  shades  of  colour,  carbonate 
of  soda,  urine,  and  a  marine  plant  called /ucws,  were 
occasionally  added :  one  of  these  colours  was  a  very 
dark  reddish  violet—"  Nigramtis  rosee  colore  sub- 
luQens.''t  ^u^  the  most  esteemed,  and  that  in  which 
the  Tyrians  particularly  excelled,  resembled  coagulat- 

•  FUnii  Hist.  Nat.  ix.  38.       f  Ibid.,  ix.  35. 


; 


9i  HISTORY  OF  CHEMIStRY. 

ed  blood — "  laus  ei  summa  in  colore  sanguinis  con- 
creti,  nigricans  aspectu,  idemque  suspectu  reful- 
gens."* 

Pliny  says  that  the  Tyrians  first  dyed  their  wool  in 
the  liquor  of  the  purpura,  and  afterwards  in  that  of 
the  buccinum ;  and  it  is  obvious  from  Moses  that  this 
purple  was  known  to  the  Egyptians  in  his  time.f  Wool 
which  had  received  this  double  Tyrian  dye  (dia  hapha) 
was  so  very  costly  that,  in  the  reign  of  Augustus,  it 
sold  for  about  36/.  the  pound.  But  lest  tins  should 
not  be  sufficient  to  exclude  all  from  the  use  of  it  but 
those  invested  with  the  very  highest  dignities  of  the 
state,  laws  were  made  inflicting  severe  penalties,  and 
even  death,  upon  all  who  should  presume  to  wear  it 
under  the  dignity  of  an  emperor.  The  art  of  dyeing 
this  colour  came  at  length  to  be  practised  by  a  few  in- 
dividuals only,  appointed  by  the  emperors,  and  having 
been  interrupted  about  the  beginning  of  the  twelfth 
century  all  knowledge  of  it  died  away,  and  during  several 
ages  this  celebrated  dye  was  considered  and  lamented 
as  an  irrecoverable  loss.|  How  it  was  afterwards 
recovered  and  made  known  by  Mr.  Cole,  of  Bristol, 
M.  Jussieu,  M.  Reaumur,  and  M.  Duhamel,  would 
lead  us  too  far  from  our  present  object,  were  we  to 
relate  it :  those  who  are  interested  in  the  subject  will 
find  an  historical  detail  in  Bancroft's  work  on  Perma* 
nent  Colours,  just  referred  to. 

There  is  reason  to  suspect  that  the  Hebrew  word  trans- 
lated j^ne  linen  in  the  Old  Testament,  and  so  celebnited: 
as  a  production  of  Egypt,  was  in  reality  cottony  and  no£' 
linen.  From  a  cunous  passage  in  Pliny,  there  if 
reason  to  believe  that  the  Egyptians  in  his  time,  and' 
probably  long  before,  were  acquainted  with  the  method 
of  calico-printing,  such  as  is  still  practised  in  IndiS: 


•» 


*  Plmii  Hist.  Nat.  iz.  c.  38.  f  Exodus  zxr.  4. 

t  See  Bancroft  on  Permanent  Colours,  i.  79.  . 


CHEMISTRY  OP  TUB   AVCIEKTK.  93 

and  the  east.  The  following  ia  a  literal  tniDsIation  of 
the  passage  in  question: 

•■  There  exists  in  Egypt  awonderful  method  of  dyeing. 
The  white  cloth  is  stained  in  various  places,  not  with 
dye  stuffs,  but  with  substances  which  have  the  pro- 
perty of  absorbing  {fixing)  colours,  these  applcations 
are  not  visible  upon  the  cloth;  but  when  they  are  dipped 
into  a  hot  caldron  of  the  dye  they  are  drawn  out  an 
instant  after  dyed.  The  remarkable  circumstance  is, 
thai  though  there  be  only  one  dye  in  the  vat,  yet  dif- 
ferent colours  appear  upon  the  cloth ;  nor  can  the 
colour  be  afterwards  removed."* 

It  is  evident  enough  that  these  substances  applied 
were  different  mordants  which  served  to  fix  the  dye 
upon  the  cloth ;  the  nature  of  these  mordants  cannot 
be  discovered,  as  nothing  specific  seems  to  have  been 
known  to  Pliny.  The  modern  mordants  are  solutions 
of  alumina;  of  the  oxide  of  tin,  oxide  of  iron,  oxide  of 
lead.  Sea.:  and  doubtless  these,  or  something  equi- 
valent to  these,  were  the  substances  employed  by  the 
ancients.  The  purple  dye  required  no  mordant,  it  fixed 
itself  to  the  cloth  in  consequence  of  the  chemical 
affinity  which  existed  between  them.  Whether  in- 
digo was  used  by  the  ancients  as  a  dye  does  not  ap- 
pear, but  there  can  be  no  doubt,  at  least,  that  its  use 
waa  known  to  the  Indians  at  a  very  remote  period. 

From  these  facts,  few  as  they  are,  there  can  be  little 
doubt  that  dyeing,  and  even  calico-printing,  had  made 
considerable  progress  among  the  ancients ;  and  this 
could  not  have  taken  place  without  a  considerable 
knowledge  of  colouring  matters,  and  of  the  mordants 
by  which  these  colouring  matters  were  fixed.  These 
facts,  however,  were  probably  but  imperfectly  under- 
stood, and  could  not  be  the  means  of  furnishing  the 
ancients  with  any  accurate  chemical  knowledge. 

•  Plinii  Hist.  NM.  xwr.;  H. 


04  BISTO&T  OF  CHEHISTftT. 

VI. — SOAP. 

Soap,  which  constitutes  so  important  and  indis- 
pensable an  article  in  the  domestic  economy  of  the 
modems,  was  quite  unknown  to  the  ancient  inhabitants 
of  Asia,  and  even  of  Greece.  No  allusion  to  it  occurs 
in  the  Old  Testament.  In  Homer,  we  find  Nausicaa^ 
the  daughter  of  the  King  of  the  Phseacians,  using 
nothing  but  water  to  wash  her  nuptial  garments: 

They  seek  the  cisterns  where  Pheacian  dmmes 

Wash  their  fair  garments  in  the  limped  Btreams  ;^. 

Where  ^thering  into  depth  from  falling  riUs^ 

The  lucid  wave  a  spacious  bason  fills. 

The  mules  nnhamess'd  range  beside  the  main. 

Or  crop  the  verdant  herbage  of  the  plain. 

Then  emulous  the  royal  robes  they  Iwne, 

And  plunge  the  vestures  in  the  deanshig  ware.  "* 

Odnuey^  vi.  L  99. 

We  find,  in  some  of  the  comic  poets,  that  the  Greeks 
were  in  the  habit  of  adding  wood-ashes  to  water  to 
make  it  a  better  detergent.  Wood-ashes  contain  a 
certain  portion  of  carbonate  of  potash,  which  of  course 
would  answer  as  a  detergent;  though,  from  its  caustic 
qualities,  it  would  be  injurious  to  the  hands  of  the  | 
washerwomen.  There  is  no  evidence  that  carbonate 
of  soda,  the  nitrum  of  the  ancients,  was  ever  used  as 
a  detergent ;  this  is  the  more  surprising,  because  we 
know  from  Pliny  that  it  was  employed  in  dyeing,  and 
one  cannot  see  how  a  solution  of  it  could  be  employed 
by  the  dyers  in  their  processes  without  discovering  that 
it  acted  powerfully  as  a  detergent. 

The  word  soap  (sapo)  occurs  first  in  Pliny.  He  in- 
forms us  that  it  was  an  invention  of  the  Gauls,  who 
employed  it  to  render  their  hair  shining ;  that  it  was 
a  compound  of  wood-ashes  and  tallow,  that  there  wen 
two  kinds  of  it,  hard  and  soft  {spissus  et  liquidtis); 
and  that  the  best  kind  was  made  of  the  ashes  of  the 
beech  and  the  fat  of  goats.    Among  the  Germans 


CHBHISTRT  OF  THE  AKCIEHTS.  95 

it  was  more  employed  by  the  men  than  the  women.* 
It  is  curious  that  no  allusion  whatever  is  made  by 
Pliny  to  the  use  of  soap  as  a  detergent ;  shall  we  con- 
elude  from  this  that  the  most  important  of  all  the  uses 
of  soap  was  unknown  to  the  ancients? 

It  was  employed  by  the  ancients  as  a  pomatum ; 
and,  during  the  early  part  of  the  government  of  the 
emperors,  it  was  imported  into  Rome  from  Germany, 
as  a  pomatum  for  the  young  Roman  beaus.  Beck- 
mann  is  of  opinion  that  the  Latin  word  sapo  is  de- 
rived from  the  old  German  word  sepe,  a  word  still 
employed  by  the  common  people  of  Scotland.f 

It  is  well  known  that  the  state  of  soap  depends  upon 
the  alkali  employed  in  making  it.  Soda  constitutes  a 
hard  soap,  and  potash  a  soft  soap.  The  ancients  be- 
ing ignorant  of  the  difference  between  the  two  alka- 
lies, and  using  wood-ashes  in  the  preparation  of  it, 
doubtless  formed  soft  soap.  The  addition  of  some 
common  salt,  during  the  boiling  of  the  soap,  would 
convert  the  soft  into  hard  soap.  As  Pliny  informs  us 
that  the  ancients  were  acquainted  both  with  hard  and 
eoft  soap,  it  is  clear  that  they  must  have  followed  some 
such  process. 

VII. — STARCH. 

The  manufacture  of  .starch  was  known  to  the  an- 
cients. Pliny  informs  iis  that  it  was  made  from  wheat 
and  from  siligo,  which  was  probably  a  variety  or  sub- 
species of  wheat.  The  invention  of  starch  is  ascribed 
by  Pliny  to  the  inhabitants  of  the  island  of  Chio,  where 
in  his  time  the  best  starch  was  still  made.  Pliny's  de- 
scription of  the  method  employed  by  the  ancients  of 

»  Plinii  Hist.  Nat.  xxviii.  12.  The  passage  of  Pliny  is  as 
follows  :  "  Prodest  et  sapo ;  Gallorurahoc  inventum  rutilandis 
capillis  ex  sevo  et  cinere.  Optimiis  fagino  et  caprino,  duobus 
modis,  spissus  et  liquidus  :  uterque  apud  Germanos  majore  ^ia 
iisu  viris  quam  feminis." 

t  Hist,  of  Inventions,  iii»  239^ 


96  HI8T0BT  OF  CHBMISTBY* 

making  starch  is  tolerably  exact.  Next  to  the  ChiaQ 
starch  that  of  Crete  was  most  celebrated ;  uid  next 
to  it  was  the  Egyptian.  The  qualities  of  starch  were 
judged  of  by  the  weight ;  the  lightest  being  always 
reckoned  the  best. 

VIII. BEER. 

That  the  ancients  were  acquainted  with  wine  is 
universally  known.  This  knowledge  must  have  been  - 
nearly  coeval  with  the  origin  of  society ;  for  we  are 
informed  in  Genesis  that  Noah,  after  the  flood, 
planted  a  vineyard,  and  made  wine,  and  got  in- 
toxicated by  drinking  the  liquid  which  he  had  manu- 
factured.* Beer  also  is  a  very  old  manufacture.  It 
was  in  common  use  among  the  Egyptians  in  the  time 
of  Herodus,  who  informs  us  that  they  made  use  of  a 
kind  of  wine  made  from  barley,  because  no  vines 
grew  in  their  country.f  Tacitus  informs  us,  that  in 
his  time  it  was  the  drink  of  the  Germans.^  Pliny  in- 
forms us  that  it  was  made  by  the  Grauls,  and  by  other 
nations.  He  gives  it  tlie  name  ofcerevisia  or  cervisia;  • 
the  name  obviously  alluding  to  the  grain  from  which 
it  was  made. 

But  though  the  ancients  seem  acquainted  with  both 
wine  and  beer,  there  is  no  evidence  of  their  having 
ever  subjected  these  liquids  to  distillation,  and  of 
having  collected  the  products.  This  would  have  fur- 
nished them  with  ardent  spirits  or  alcohol,  of  which 
there  is  every  reason  to  believe  they  were  entirely  ig- 
norant. Indeed,  the  method  employed  by  Dioscorideis 
to  obtain  mercury  from  cinnabar,  is  a  sufficient  proof 
that  the  true  process  of  distillation  was  unknown  tQ 
them.     He  mixed  cinnabar  with  iron  filings,  put  the 

*  Genesis  ix.  20. 

•f  "Oivifi  ^  Ik  KpiOiuv  ireTToirifisvtfi  Siaxpiovrai*  6v  yap  <r^  nn 
Iv  ry  x^PV  o.fnrfkou    Euterpe  chap.  77. 

X  De  Moribus  Germanorum,  c.  23.  ''  Potui  humor  ex  hordu 
Aut  frumenU)  ia  quandam  similitudinem  vini  corruptus." 


CHEMISTRY  0?  THE  ANCIEKTS.  97 

siixtTire  into  a  pot,  to  the  top  of  which  a  cover  of  stone- 
ware was  luted.  Heat  was  applied  to  the  pot,  and 
when  the  process  was  at  an  end,  the  mercury  was 
found  adhering  to  the  inside  of  the  cover.  Had  they 
been  aware  of  the  method  of  distilling  the  quicksilver 
ore  into  a  receiver,  this  imperfect  mode  of  collecting 
only  a  small  portion  of  the  quicksilver,  separated  from 
the  cinnabar,  would  never  have  been  practised.  Be« 
sides,  there  is  not  the  smallest  allusion  to  ardent  spirits, 
either  in  the  writings  of  the  poets,  historians,  natu- 
ralists, or  medical  men  of  ancient  Greece;  a  cir- 
cumstance not  to  be  accounted  for  had  ardent  spirits 
been  known,  arid  applied  even  to  one- tenth  of  the 
uses  to  which  they  are  put  by  the  moderns. 

IX. STONEWARE. 

The  manufacture  of  stoneware  vessels  was  known  at 
a  very  early  period  of  society.  Frequent  allusions  to 
the  potter's  wheel  occur  in  the  Old  Testament,  showing 
that  the  manufacture  must  have  been  familiar  to  the 
Jewish  nation.  The  porcelain  of  the  Chinese  boasts 
of  a  very  high  antiquity  indeed.  We  cannot  doubt 
that  the  processes  of  the  ancients  were  similar  to  those  of 
the  modems,  though  I  am  not  aware  of  any  tolerably  ac- 
curate account  of  them  in  any  ancient  author  what- 
ever. 

Moulds  of  plaster  of  Paris  were  used  by  the  ancients 
to  take  casts  precisely  as  at  present.* 

The  sand  of  Puzzoli  was  used  by  the  Romans,  as 
it  is  by  the  moderns,  to  form  a  mortar  capable  of 
hardening  under  water. 

Pliny  gives  us  some  idea  of  the  Roman  bricks,  which 
are  known  to  have  been  of  an  excellent  quality.  There 
were  three  sizes  of  bricks  used  by  the  Romans. 

1.  Lydian,  which  were  IJ  foot  long  and  1  foot 
broad. 

*  Plinii  HisCNat.  xxxv.  12. 

VOL,    If  II 


9S  HISTORY  OP  CHEMIBTaT* 

2.  Tetradoron,  which  was  a  square  of  16  inehes 
each  side. 

3.  Pentadoron,  which  was  a  square,  each  side  of 
which  was  20  inches  long. 

Doron  signifies  the  palm  of  the  hand  :  of  course  it 
was  equivalent  to  4  inches. 

X.— PHECIOUS    STONES   AKD   MINERALS. 

Pliny  has  given  a  pretty  detailed  description  of  thel 
precious  stones  of  the  ancients ;  but  it  is  not  very  ea&y 
to  determine  the  specific  minerals  to  which  he  al-> 
ludes. 

1 .  The  description  of  the  diamond  is  tolerably  pre^ 
cise.     It  was  found  in  Ethiopia,  India,  Arabia,  and 
Macedonia.     But  tiie  Macedonian  diamond,  as  well 
as  the  adamas  cyprius  and  siderites,  were  obviously ' 
not  diamonds,  but  soft  stones. 

2.  The  emerald  of  the  ancients  (smaragdus)  must 
have  varied  in  its  nature.     It  was  a  green,  transparent, 
hard  stone ;  and,  as  colour  was  the  criterion  by  which  • 
the  ancients  distinguished  minerals  and  divided  them 
into  species,  it  is  obvious  that  very  different  minerals   •' 
must  have  been  confounded  together,  under  the  name.-    '■ 
of  emerald .    Sapphire ,  beryl ,  doubtless  fluor  spar  whea  -  J 
green,  and  probably  even  serpentine,  nephrite,  an&  < 
some  ores  of  copper,  seem  to  have  occasionally  got  the  ^ 
same  name.     There  is  no  reason  to  believe  that  theT 
emerald  of  the  modems  was  known  before  the  discoC 
very  of  America.     At  least  it  has  been  only  found  in 
modern  times  in  America.     Some  of  the  emeralds  dttf 
scribed  by  Pliny  as  losing  their  colour  by  exposure  tPi 
the  sun,  must  have  been  fiuor  spars.    There  is  a  re^ 
markably  deep  and  beautiful  green  fluor  spar,  isM 
with  some  years  ago  in  the  county  of  Durham,  in  oqifc 
of  the  Weredale  mines  that  possesses  this  property. 
The  emeralds  of  the  ancients  were  of  such  a  size  (1^ 

feet^  laige  enough  to  be  cut  into  a  pillar),  that  we  calD 


:v 


CHSMISTRT  07  THE  AKCIEKTS*  99 

consider  them  in  no  other  light  than  as  a  species  of 
rock. 

3.  Topaz  of  the  ancients  had  a  green  colour ,  which  is 
never  the  case  with  the  modem  topaz.  It  was  found  in 
the  island  Topazios,  in  the  Red  Sea.*  It  is  generztlly 
supposed  to  have  been  the  chrysolite  of  tlie  modems. 
But  Pliny  mentions  a  statue  of  it  six  feet  long.  Now 
chrysolite  never  occurs  in  such  large  masses.  Bmce 
mentions  a  green  substance  in  an  emerald  island  in  the 
Red  Sea,  not  harder  than  glass.  Might  not  this  be 
the  emerald  of  the  ancients  ? 

4.  Calais y  from  the  locality  and  colour  was  pro- 
bably the  Persian  turquoise,  as  it  is  generally  sup- 
posed to  be. 

5.  Whether  the  prasius  and  chrysoprasius  of  Pliny 
were  the  modern  stones  to  which  these  names  are  given, 
we  have  no  means  of  determining.  It  is  generally 
supposed  that  they  are,  and  we  have  no  evidence  to 
the  contrary. 

6.  The  chrysolite  of  Pliny  is  supposed  to  be  our 
topaz :  but  we  have  no  other  evidence  of  tliis  than 
the  opinion  of  M.  Du  Terns. 

7.  Asteria  of  Pliny  is  supposed  by  Saussure  to  be 
our  sapphire.  The  lustre  described  by  Pliny  agrees 
with  this  opinion.  The  stone  is  said  to  have  been  very 
hard  and  colourless. 

8.  Opalus  seems  to  have  been  our  opal.  It  is  called, 
Pliny  says,  pcederos  by  many,  on  account  of  its  beauty. 
The  Indians  called  it  sangenon, 

9.  Obsidian  was  the  same  as  the  mineral  to  which 
we  give  that  name.  It  was  so  called  because  a  Roman 
named  Obsidianus  first  brought  it  from  Egypt.  I  have 
a  piece  of  obsidian,  which  the  late  Mr.  Salt  brought 
from  the  locality  specified  by  Pliny,  and  which  possesses 
all  the  characters  of  that  mineral  in  its  purest  state. 

*  The  word  topazo  is  said  by  Pliny  to  signify,  in  the  language 
of  the  Troglodytes,  to  seek, 

H  2 


loo  HISTORY  OF  CHBMISTEY. 

10.  Sarda  was  the  name  of  cameluJa/iy  so  called  be- 
cause it  was  first  found  near  Sardis.  The  sardonyx 
was  also  another  name  for  camelian, 

1 1 .  Onyx  was  a  name  sometimes  given  to  a  rock j 
gypsum ;  sometimes  it  ¥ras  a  light-coloured  chalcedony » 
The  Latin  name  for  chalcedony  was  carchedonius,  so 
called  because  Carthage  was  the  place  where  this 
mineral  was  exposed  to  sale.  The  Greek  name  for 
Carthage  was  iLapxn^**^  (carchedon), 

12.  Carbunculus  was  the  garnet;  and  anthrax  was 
a  name  for  another  variety  of  the  same  mineral. 

13.  The  oriental  amethyst  of  Pliny  was  probably  a 
sapphire.  The  fourth  species  of  amethyst  described  by 
Pliny,  seems  to  have  been  our  amethyst.  Pliny  derives 
the  name  from  «  and  (a)  ^vOi|  (mythe)y  wine,  because  it 
has  not  quite  the  colour  of  wine.  But  the  common 
derivation  is  from  a  and  /Av9tm,  to  intoxicatey  because 
it  was  used  as  an  amulet  to  prevent  intoxication. 

14.  The  sapphire  is  described  by  Pliny  as  alway* 
opaque^  and  as  unfit  for  engraving  on.  We  do  not 
know  what  it  was. 

15.  The  hyacinth  of  Pliny  is  equally  unknowa* 
From  its  name  it  was  obviously  of  a  blue  colour.   Oar 
hvacinth  has  a  reddish-brown  colour,  and  a  great  detl  . 
o^  hardness  and  lustre. 

16.  The  cyan  us  of  Pliny  may  have  been  our  eyamUe* 

1 7 .  Astrios  agrees  very  well,  as  far  as  the  description  • 
of  Pliny  goes,  with  the  variety  of  telspar  called  mith 
laria.  c* 

18.  Belioculus  seems  to  have  been  our  catseye.   . 

19.  Lychnites  was  a  violet-coloured  stone,  wkirfl 
became  electric  by  heat.  Unless  it  was  a  bhie  lim^' 
maliny  1  do  not  know  what  it  could  be.  .  •: 

20.  The  jasper  of  the  ancients  was  probably  As 
same  as  ours.  t 

2 1 .  Molochites  may  have  been  our  malachite. 
name  comes  fin>m  the  Greek  word  iuu)Xoxir»  maUoWy 
marshmallow* 


CHEMlSTttlr  Of  THE   AXClElTTS.  101 

:  '22.  Pliny  considers  amber  as  the  juice  of  a  tree 
concreted  into  a  solid  form.  The  largest  piece  of  it 
that  he  had  ever  seen  weighed  13  lbs.  Roman  weight, 
which  is  nearly  equivalent  to  9|  lbs.  avoirdupois,  /n- 
dian  amber,  of  which  he  speaks,  was  probably  copal, 
or  some  transparent  resin.  It  may  be  dyed,  he  says, 
by  means  of  anchusa  and  the  fat  of  kids, 

23.  Lapis  specularis  was  foliated  sulphate  of  lime, 
or  selenite. 

24.  Pyrites  had  the  same  meaning  among  the  an- 
cients that  it  has  among  the  moderns  ;  at  least  as  far 
as  iron  pyrites  or  bisulphuret  of  iron  is  concerned. 
Pliny  describes  two  kind  of  pyrites ;  namely,  the 
white  (arsenical  pyrites),  and  tiie  yellow  (iron  py- 
lites).  It  was  used  for  striking  fire  with  steel,  in  order 
to  kindle  tinder.     Hence  the  name  pyrites  or  Jirestone. 

25.  Gagates,  from  the  account  given  of  it  by 
Pliny,  was  obviously  pit-coal  or  jet. 

.  26.  Marble  had  the  same  meaning  among  the  an- 
cients that  it  has  among  the  moderns.  It  was  sawed 
by  the  ancients  into  slabs,  and  the  action  of  the  saw 
was  facilitated  by  a  sand  brought  for  the  purpose  from 
Ethiopia  and  the  isle  of  Naxos.  It  is  obvious  that 
this  sand  was  powdered  corundum,  or  emery. 

27.  Creta  was  a  name  applied  by  the  ancients  not 
only  to  chalk,  but  to  white  clay. 

28.  Melinum  was  an  oxide  of  iron.  Pliny  gives  a 
list  of  one  hundred  and  fifty-one  species  of  stones  in 
the  order  of  the  alphabet.  Very  few  of  the  minerals 
contained  in  this  list  can  be  made  out.  He  gives 
also  a  list  of  fifty-two  species  of  stones,  whose  names 
are  derived  from  a  fancied  resemblance  which  the 
stones  are  supposed  to  bear  to  certain  parts  of  animals. 
Of  these,  also,  very  few  can  be  made  out. 

XI. MISCELLANEOUS    OBSERVATIONS. 

The  ancients  seem  to  have  been  ignorant  of  the  na- 
ture and  properties  of  air^  and  of  sdl  gaseous  \)Q^^« 


102  HISTORY  OP  CHEMISTRY. 

Pliny's  account  of  air  consists  of  a  single  senteiide : 
"  Aer  densatur  nubibus ;  furit  procellis.''  "  Air  is 
condensed  in  clouds,  it  rages  in  storms."  Nor  is  his 
description  of  water  much  more  complete,  since  it  con-» 
sists  only  of  the  following  phrases  :  *'  Aquse  subeunt 
in  imbres,  rigescunt  in  grandines,  tumescunt  in  fluc- 
tus,  prsecipitantur  in  torrentes.'**  "Water  falls  in 
showers,  congeals  in  hail,  swells  in  waves,  and  rushes 
down  in  torrents."  In  the  thirty -eighth  chapter  of  the 
second  book,  indeed,  he  professes  to  treat  of  air ;  but 
the  chapter  contains  merely  an  enumeration  of  me- 
teorological phenomena,  without  once  touching  upon 
the  nature  and  properties  of  air. 

Pliny,  with  all  the  philosophers  of  antiquity,  admit-* 
ted  the  existence  of  the  four  elements,  fire,  air,  water, 
and  earth ;  but  though  he  enumerates  these  in  the  fifth 
chapter  of  his  first  book,  he  never  attempts  to  explain 
their  nature  or  properties.  Earth,  among  the  ancients, 
had  two  meanings,  namely,  the  planet  on  which  we 
live,  and  the  soil  upon  which  vegetables  grow.  Thess 
two  meanings  still  exist  in  common  language.  The 
meaning  afterwards  given  to  the  term,  earth,  by  the 
chemists,  did  not  exist  in  the  days  of  Pliny,  or,  at 
least,  was  unknown  to  him ;  a  sufficient  proof  tiiat 
chemistry,  in  his  time,  had  made  no  progress  as  a 
science ;  for  some  notions  respecting  the  properties  and 
constituents  of  those  supposed  four  elements  must  have 
constituted  the  very  foundation  of  scientific  chemistry. 

The  ancients  were  acquainted  with  none  of  the  acidt 
which  at  present  constitute  so  numerous  a  tribe,  ex- 
cept  vinegar,  or  acetic  acid ;  and  even  this  acid  was 
not  known  to  them  in  a  state  of  purity.  They  knew 
none  of  the  saline  bases,  except  lime,  soda,  and  potaab^ 
and  these  very  imperfectly.  Of  course  the  wholn 
tribe  of  salts  was  unknown  to  them,  except  a  very  few^ 
which  they  found  ready  formed  in  the  earth,  or  which 

•  Pliim'Hial.TSat.  11.63. 


CHEMISTRY  OF  THE  ANCIBKTS.  103 

they  succeeded  in  forming  by  the  action  of  vinegar  on 
lead  and  copper.  Hence  all  that  extensive  and  most 
important  branch  of  chemistry,  consisting  of  the  com- 
binations of  the  acids  and  bases,  on  which  scientific 
chemistry  mainly  depends,  must  have  been  unknown 
to  them. 

Sulphur  occurring  native  in  large  quantities,  and 
being  remarkable  for  its  easy  combustibility,  and  its 
disagreeable  smell  when  burning,  was  known  in  the 
very  earliest  ages.  Pliny  describes  four  kinds  of  sul- 
phur, differing  from  each  other,  probably,  merely  in 
their  purity.     These  were 

1 .  Sulphur  vivum,  or  apyron.  It  was  dug  out  of  the 
earth  solid,  and  was  doubtless  pure,  or  nearly  so. 
It  alone  was  used  in  medicine. 

2.  Gleba — used  only  by  fullers. 

3.  Egula — ^used  also  by  fullers. 

Pliny  says,  it  renders  woollen  stuffs  white  and  soft. 
It  is  obvious  from  this,  that  the  ancients  knew  the 
method  of  bleaching  flannel  by  the  fumes  of  sulphur, 
as  practised  by  the  modems. 

4.  The  fourth  kind  was  used  only  for  sulphuring 
matches. 

Sulphur,  in  Pliny*s  time,  was  found  Uative  in  the 
^olian  islands,  and  in  Campania.  It  is  curious  that 
he  never  mentions  Sicily,  whence  the  great  supply  is 
drawn  for  modem  manufacture. 

In  medicine,  it  seems  to  have  been  only  used  ex- 
ternally by  the  ancients.  It  was  considered  as  excel- 
lent for  removing  emptions.  It  was  used  also  for  fu- 
migating. 

The  word  alumen^  which  we  translate  alum,  occurs 
often  in  Pliny ;  and  is  the  same  substance  which  the 
Greeks  distinguished  by  the  nameof  <rrv?rrijpto(s^y/?^ma). 
It  is  described  pretty  minutely  by  Dioscorides,  and  also 
by  Pliny.  It  was  obviously  a  natural  production,  dug 
out  of  the  earth,  and  consequently  quite  different  from 
our  alum,  with  which  the  ascieats  were  uiiacqvxml^^« 


104  HISTORY  OF  CREMISTET. 

Dioscorides  says  that  it  was  found  abundantly  ia 
Egypt ;  that  it  was  of  various  kinds,  but  that  the  slaty 
variety  was  the  best.  He  mentions  also  many  other 
localities.  He  says  that,  for  medical  purposes,  the 
most  valued  of  all  the  varieties  of  alumen  were  the 
slaty,  the  round,  and  the  liquid.  The  slaty  alumea 
is  very  white,  has  an  exceedingly  astringent  taste,  a 
strong  smell,  is  free  from  stony  concretions,  and 
gradually  cracks  and  emits  long  capillary  crystals  irotk 
these  rifts ;  on  which  account  it  is  sometimes  called 
trichiies.  This  description  obviously  applies  to  a  kind 
of  slate-clay,  which  probably  contained  pyrites  mixed 
with  it  of  the  decomposing  kind.  The  capillary  cry»A 
tals  were  probably  similar  to  those  crystals  at  present 
called  hair-salt  by  mineralogists,  which  exude  pretM* 
abundantly  from  the  shale  of  the  coal-beds,  when  it 
has  been  long  exposed  to  the  air.  Hair-salt  difFeii 
very  much  in  its  nature.  Klaproth  ascertained  hf 
analysis,  that  the  hair-salt  from  the  quicksilver-mindi 
in  luria  is  sulphate  of  magnesia,  mixed  with  a  small 
quantity  of  sulphate  of  iron.*  The  hair-salt  from  the 
abandoned  coal-pits  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Glasgo# 
is  a  double  salt,  composed  of  sulphate  of  alumina,  add 
sulphate  of  iron,  in  definite  proportions ;  the  compoii& 
tion  being  ^» 

1    atom  protosulphate  of  iron, 
1^  atom  sulphate  of  alumina,  '  i^ 

15    atoms  water.  r'/ 

I  suspect  strongly  that  the  capillary  crystals  ii^Qift: 
the  schistose  alumen  of  Dioscorides  were  nearly  of  tift 
same  nature.  '*  ■ 

From  Pliny's  account  of  the  uses  to  which  alumij 
was  applied,  it  is  quite  obvious  that  it  must  Hii 
varied  very  much  in  its  nature.     Alumen  nigrum 
used  to  strike  a  black  colour,  and  must  therefore  hvigt 
contained  iron.     It  was  doubtless  an  impure  nati 

•  ^ 

*  Beitrag«,  ill.  104.  t 


I 


; 


CHEMIST&T  0¥  THE  AKCIEKTS.  105 

sulphate  of  iron,  similar  to  many  native  productions  of 
the  same  nature  still  met  with  in  various  parts  of  the 
world,  but  not  employed  ;  their  use  having  been  su- 
perseded by  various  artificial  salts,  more  definite  in 
their  nature,  and  consequently  more  certain  in  their 
application,  and  at  the  same  time  cheaper  and  more 
abundant  than  the  native. 

.  The  alumen  employed  as  a  mordant  by  the  dyers, 
must  have  been  a  sulphate  of  alumina  more  or  less 
pure ;  at  least  it  must  have  been  free  from  all  sulphate 
of  iron,  which  would  have  affected  the  colour  of  the 
clothy  and  prevented  the  dyer  from  accomplishing  his 
object.* 

What  the  alumen  rotundum  wb.s,  is  not  easily  con- 
jectured. Dioscorides  says,  that  it  was  sometimes 
made  artificially  ;  but  that  the  artificial  alumen  rotun- 
dum  was  not  much  valued.  The  best,  he.  says,  was 
full  of  air-bubbles,  nearly  white,  and  of  a  very  astrin- 
gent taste.  It  had  a  slaty  appearance,  and  was  found 
iu  £g3rpt  or  the  Island  of  Melos. 

The  liquid  alumen  was  limpid,  milky,  of  an  equal 
colour,  free  from  hard  concretions,  and  having  a  fiery 
shade  of  colour. f  In  its  nature,  it  was  similar  to  the 
alumen  candidum ;  it  must  therefore  have  consisted 
chiefly,  at  least,  of  sulphate  of  alumina. 

Bitumen  and  naphtha  were  known  to  the  ancients, 
and  used  by  them  to  give  light  instead  of  oil ;  they 
were  employed  also  as  external  applications  in  cases 
of  disease,  and  were  considered  as  having  the  same 
virtues  as  sulphur.  It  is  said,  that  the  word  trans- 
lated salt  in  the  New  Testament — **  Ye  are  the  salt  of 
the  earth  :  but  if  the  salt  have  lost  his  savour,  where- 
with shall  it  be  salted  ?  It  is  henceforth  good  for  no- 
thing, but  to  be  cast  out,  and  to  be  trodden  under  foot 

***^  Quoniam  inficiendis  claro  colore  lanis  candidum  liquidumque 
^tUissimuin  est,  contraque  fascia  et  obscaris  nigrum." — P/tmt, 
iuv.  15. 

t  See  Dioscorides,  Jit.  r.  c.  123.     Plinu  Hist.  Nat,  xaw.  \^ . 


106  filSTO&V  OF  CHEKlSTEir. 

of  men"* — ^it  is  said,  that  the  word  salt  in  this  passage 
refers  to  asphalt,  or  bitumen,  which  was  used  by  the 
Jews  in  their  sacrifices,  and  called  salt  by  them.  But 
I  have  not  been  able  to  find  satisfactory  evidence  of 
the  truth  of  this  opinion.  It  is  obvious  from  the  con- 
text, that  the  word  translated  salt  could  not  have  had 
that  meaning  among  the  Jews ;  because  salt  never  can. 
be  supposed  to  lose  its  savour.  Bitumen,  while  liquid, 
has  a  strong  taste  and  smell,  which  it  loses  gradually 
by  exposure  to  the  air,  as  it  approaches  more  and  more 
to  a  solid  form. 

Asphalt  was  one  of  the  great  constituents  of  the 
Greek  fire.  A  great  bed  of  it  still  existing  in  Albania, 
supplied  the  Greeks  with  this  substance.  Concerning 
the  nature  of  the  Greek  fire,  it  is  clear  that  many  ex- 
aggerated and  even  fabulous  statements  have  been 
published.  The  obvious  intention  of  the  Greeks  be- 
ing, probably,  to  make  their  invention  as  much  dread- 
ed as  possible  by  their  enemies.  Nitre  was  undoubt- 
edly one  of  the  most  important  of  its  constituents ; 
though  no  allusion  whatever  is  ever  made.  We  do 
not  know  when  nitrate  of  potash,  the  nitre  of  the 
moderns,  became  known  in  Europe.  It  was  discovered 
in  the  east ;  and  was  undoubtedly  known  in  China  and 
India  before  the  commencement  of  the  Christian  era. 
The  property  of  nitre,  as  a  supporter  of  combustion, 
could  not  have  remained  long  unknown  after  the  dis- 
covery of  the  salt.  The  first  person  who  threw  a  piece 
of  it  upon  a  red-hot  coal  would  observe  it.  Accord* 
ingly  we  find  that  its  use  in  fireworks  was  known  very 
early  in  China  and  India ;  though  its  prodigious  ex- 
pansive power,  by  which  it  propels  buUets  with  la 
great  and  destructive  velocity,  is  a  European  inyen* 
tion,  posterior  to  the  time  of  Roger  Bacon. 

•  Matthew  r.  13. — "  Taiitf  tor*  ro  &\ac  nyc  7»7C'  ^txv  Si  f0 
SXaQ  fuapavBy,  iv  nvi  aXtcrOijo'erat;  Ice  ot/^cv  c^xctfci  Vn  liJtV 
fiXtjBtjvai  £$(i/^  kqX  KaravaTiiadcu  *viro  ruv  dvBpwir(ifv,*[ 


CHBMISTRT  OF  THB  AKCISVTS.  107 

The  word  nitre  (amXhad  beefl  applied  by  the  an- 
cients to  carbonate  of  soda,  a  production  of  Egypt, 
where  it  is  still  formed  from  sea-water,  by  some  un-* 
known  process  of  nature  in  the  marshes  near  Alexan* 
dria.     This  is  evident,  not  merely  from  the  account 
g^en  of  it  by  Dioscorides  and  Pliny ;  for  the  following 
passage,  firom  the  Old  Testament,  shows  that  it  had 
the  same  meaning  among  the  Jews :     ^^  As  he  that 
taketh  away  a  garment  in  cold  weather,  is  as  vinegar 
upon  nitre :  so  is  he  that  singeth  songs  to  a  heavy 
heart."*     Vinegar  poured  upon  saltpetre  produces  no 
sensible  effect  whatever,  but  when  poured  upon  car- 
bonate of  soda,  it  occasions  an  effervescence.     When 
saltpetre  came  to  be  imported  to  Europe,  it  was  natu- 
ral to  give  it  the  same  name  as  that  applied  to  carbo- 
nate of  soda,  to  which  both  in  taste  and  appearance 
it  bore  some  faint  resemblance.     Saltpetre  possessing 
much  more  striking  properties  than  carbonate  of  soda 
much  more  attention  was  drawn  to  it,  and  it  gradually 
fixed  upon  itself  the  term  nitre,  at  first  applied  to  a 
different  salt.     When  this  change  of  nomenclature 
took  place  does  not  appear ;    but  it  was  completed 
before  the  time  of  Roger  Bacon,  who  always  applies 
the  term  nitrum  to  our  nitrate  of  potash  and  never  to 
carbonate  of  soda. 

In  the  preceding  history  of  the  chemical  facts  known 
to  the  ancients,   I  have  taken  no  notice  of  a  well- 
known  story  related  of  Cleopatra.     This  magnificent 
and  profligate   queen  boasted   to   Antony   that  she 
would  herself  consume  a  million  of  sistertii  at  a  sup^ 
per.     Antony  smiled  at  the  proposal,  and  doubted 
the  possibility  of  her  performing  it.     Next  evening 
!     a  magnificent  entertainment  was  provided,  at  which 
I     Antony,  as  usual,  was  present,  and  expressed  his  opi- 
iiion  that  the  cost  of  the  feast,  magnificent  as  it  was, 
fell  far  short  of  the  sum  specified  by  the  queen.    She 


/ 


•  Prorerba  xxr.  id. 


lOS  HIStOmT  OP  CHEMlSrET* 

requested  bim  to  deier  compvtin^  tiU  the  dessert  was 
finished.     A  Tessel  tolled  wnh  Tinegmr  was  placed  be- 
fore ber«  in  which  she  threw  two  pearls,  the  finest  in 
the  world,  and  which  were  valued  at  ten  millions  of 
sistertii :  these  pearb  were  dissohred  bv  the  vinegar,* 
and  the  liquid  was  immediatelT  drunk  by  the  queen. 
Thus  $he  made  £^>od  her  boast«  and  destroved  the  two 
finest  pearls  in  the  world.t    This  stonr,  supposing  it 
true,  shows  that  Cleopatra  was  aware  that  vinegar  has 
the  prv^perty  of  dissolving  pearls.     But  not  that  she 
knew  the  nature  of  these  beautiful  productions  of 
nature.     We  now  know  that  pearls  consist  essentially 
of  carbonate  of  lime,  and  that  the  beauty  is  owing  to 
the  thin  concentric  lamin«B,  of  which  they  are  composed. 
Nor  have  I  taken  any  notice  of  lime  with  which  the 
ancients  were  well  acquainted,  and  which  they  applied 
to  most  of  the  uses  to  which  the  modems  put  it.  Thus 
it  constituted  the  base  of  the  Roman  mortar,  which 
is  known  to  have  been  excellent.    They  employed  it 
also  as  a  manure  for  the  fields,  as  the  modems  do.    It 
was  known  to  have  a  corrosive  nature  when  taken  in- 
ternally ;  but  w^is  much  employed  by  the  ancients  ex- 
ternally, and  in   various  ways  as  an  application  to 
ulcers.     Whether  they  knew  its  solubility  in  water  ' 
does  not  appear  ;  though,  from  the  circumstance  of  itfr 
beinjf  used  for  making  mortar,  this  fact  could  hardljr' 
escape  them.   These  facts,  though  of  great  importance^ 
could  scarcely  be  applied  to  the  rearing  of  a  chemi 
structure,  us  the  ancients  could  have  no  notion  of 
action  of  acids  upon  lime,  or  of  the  numerous  sal 
which   it  is  capable  of  forming.     Phenomena  whicl 
must  have  remained  unknown  till  the  discovery  of  th* 
acids  enabled  experimenters  to  try  their  efiects  upo: 
limestone  and  quicklime.     Not  even  a  conjecture  a] 
pears  in  any  ancient  writer  that  I  have  looked  i 


•  "  Cuius  asperitas  visque  in  tabem  maneiitas  resoMt.'* 
'f  PiiniiHi8t.NaUix.35.., 

4 


CHEMI8TUT  OF  THE  AKCIEKTS.  109. 

about  the  difference  between  quicklime  and  lime- 
stoixe.  This  difference  is  so  great  that  it  must  have 
been  remarked  by  them,  yet  nobody  seems  ever  to 
have  thought  of  attempting  to  account  for  it.  Even 
the  method  of  burning  or  calcining  lime  is  not  de- 
scribed by  Pliny ;  though  there  can  be  no  doubt  that 
the  ancients  were  acquainted  with  it. 

Nor  have  I  taken  any  notice  of  leather  or  the  me- 
thod of  tanning  it.  There  are  so  many  allusions  to 
leather  and  its  uses  by  the  ancient  poets  and  histo- 
rians, that  the  acquaintance  of  the  ancients  with  it  is 
pat  out  of  doubt.     But  so  far  as  I  know,  there  is  no 

description  of  the  process  of  tanning  in  any  ancient 

author  whatever. 


5| 


/ 


110  HUtOftT  OF  CBIMIft&T« 


CHAPTER  III. 


CHEMISTRY   OF  THE  ARABIANS, 


■  r 


Hitherto  I  have  spoken  of  Alchymy,  or  of  the  ^^; 
mical  manufactures  of  the  ancients.  The  people  tCK 
whom  scientific  chemistry  owes  its  origin  are  the^ 
Arabians.  Not  that  they  prosecuted  scientific  che^; 
mistry  themselves ;  but  they  were  the  first  persons  whd* 
attempted  to  form  chemical  medicines.  This  they  did^ 
by  mixing  various  bodies  with  each  other,  and  applying"' 
heat  to  the  mixture  in  various  ways.  This  led  to  the 
discovery  of  some  of  the  mineral  acids.  These  they^ 
applied  to  the  metals,  &c.,  and  ascertained  the  efFeetjT 
produced  upon  that  most  important  class  of  bodielk|[ 
Thus  the  Arabians  began  those  researches  which  h 
gradually  to  the  formation  of  scientific  chemistry.  Wi 
must  therefore  endeavour  to  ascertain  the  chemi< 
facts  for  which  we  are  indebted  to  the  Arabians. 

When  Mahomet  first  delivered  his  dogmas  to 
countrymen  they  were  not  altogether  barbarous.  P< 
sessed  of  a  copious  and  expressive  language,  and 
habiting  a  burning  climate,  their  imaginations  w< 
lively  and  their  passions  violent.     Poetey  and  fid 
were  cultivated  by  them  with  ardour,  and  with  coi 
derable  success.      But  science  and  inductive  phi 
sophy,  had  made  little  or  no  progress  among  the 
The  fatalism  introduced  by  Mahomet,  and  the  bl: 
enthusiasm  which  he  inculcated;  rendered  them 


CHBimTRT  or  THE  AltABlAVS.  Ill 

rious  bigots  and  determined  enemies  to  every  kind  of 
intellectual  improvement.  The  rapidity  with  which 
tkey  overran  Asia,  Africa,  and  even  a  portion  of 
&rope,  is  universally  known.  At  that  period  the 
western  world,  was  sunk  into  extreme  barbarism,  and 
*ke  Greeks,  with  whom  the  remains  of  civilization  still 
'ingered,  were  sadly  degenerated  from  those  sages 
Ho  OTaced  the  classic  ao^es.  Bent  to  the  earth  under 
the  most  grinding  but  turbulent  despotism  that  ever 
disgraced  mankind,  and  having  their  understandings 
^aled  up  by  the  most  subtle  and  absurd,  and  un- 
comprising  superstition,  all  the  energy  of  mind,  all 
the  powers  of  invention,  all  the  industry  and  talent, 
Hich  distinguished  their  ancestors,  had  completely 
forsaken  them.  Their  writers  aimed  at  nothing  new 
or  great,  and  were  satisfied  with  repeating  the  scientific 
fticts  determined  by  their  ancestors.  The  lamp  of 
science  fluttered  in  its  socket,  and  was  on  the  eve  of 
^ing  extinguished. 

Nothing  good  or  great  could  be  expected  from  such 
*  state  of  society.  It  was,  therefore,  wisely  deter- 
JJ^ined  by  Providence  that  the  Mussulman  conquerors, 
stoiild  overrun  the  earth,  sweep  out  those  miserable 
governors,  and  free  the  wretched  inhabitants  from  the 
trammels  of  despotism  and  superstition.  As  a  des- 
potism not  less  severe,  and  a  superstition  still  more 
gloomy  and  uncompromising,  was  substituted  in  their 
place,  it  may  seem  at  first  sight,  that  the  conquests  of 
the  Mahometans  brought  things  into  a  worse  state 
than  they  found  them.  But  the  listless  inactivity,  the 
^niost  deathlike  torpor  which  had  frozen  the  minds  of 
Mankind,  were  effectually  roused.  The  Mussulmans 
displayed  a  degree  of  energy  and  activity  which  have 
few  parallels  in  the  history  of  the  world  :  and  after  the 
conquests  of  the  Mahometans  were  completed,  and 
the  Califs  quietly  seated  upon  the  greatest  and  most 
powerful  throne  that  the  world  had  ever  seen ;  after 
Almanzor,  about  the  middle  of  the  eighth  cenlurj^^RaA. 


112  HISTOEY  OP  CHEMISTRY. 

founded  the  city  of  Bagdad,  and  settled  a  permanent 
and  flourishing  peace,  the  arts  and  sciences,  "which 
usually  accompany  such  a  state  of  society,  began  to 
make  their  appearance. 

That  calif  founded  an  academy  at  Bagdad,  which 
acquired  much  celebrity,  and  gradually  raised  itself 
above  all  the  other  academies  in  his  dominions.     A 
medical  college  was  established  there  with  powers  to 
examine  all  those  persons  who  intended  to  devote 
themselves  to  the  medical  profession.     So  many  pro* 
fes^rs  and  pupils  flocked  to  this  celebrated  college, 
from  all  parts  of  the  world,  that  at  one  time  their  num- 
ber amounted  to  no  fewer  than  six  thousand.     Public 
hospitals  and  laboratories  were  established  to  facilitate 
a  knowledge  of  diseases,  and  to  make  the  students, 
acquainted  with  the  method  of  preparing  medicines. 
It  was  this  last  establishment  which  originated  with  th^^ 
califs  that  gave  a  first  beginning  to  the  science  o^ 
chemistry,  ■    f 

In  the  thirteenth  century  the  caJif  Mostanser 
established  the  academy  and  the  medical  college  2^ 
Bagdad :  for  both  had  fallen  into  decay,  and  h 
been  replaced  by  an  infinite  number  of  Jewish  semi-r"? 
naries.  Mostanser  gave  large  salaries  to  the  profes^-^ 
sors,  collected  a  magnificent  library,  and  established  ^ 
new  school  of  pharmacy.  He  was  himself  often  prg^'f 
sent  at  the  public  lectures. 

The  successor  of  Mostanser  was  the  calif  Haroun-: 
Al-Raschid,  the  perpetual  hero  of  the  Arabian  tale^« 
He  not  only  carried  his  •  love  for  the  sciences  furthei^ 
than  his  predecessors,  but  displayed  a  liberality  and  * 
tolerance  for  religious  opinions,  which  was  not  quits 
consistent  with  Mahometan  bigotry  and  superstition*,   j 
He  drew  round  him  the  Syrian  Christians,  who  trans-  \ 
lated  the  Greek  classics,  rewarded  them  liberally,  and  j 
appointed  them  instructors  of  his  Mahometan  sub- 
jects, especially  in  medicine  and  pharmacy.     He  pro-: 
tected  the  Christian  school  of  DschQndisabour,  foundtti 


CUVM.9ft%Y  OF  *rH£  AEABUlrS.  113 

by  the  Kestonan  Cfaristians^  before  the  time  of  Maho- 
met, and  still  continuing  in  a  flourishing  state :  always 
surrounded  by  literary  men,  he  frequently  conde- 
scended to  take  a  part  in  their  discussions,  and  not 
unfrequently,  as  might  have  been  expected  from  his 
xanky  came  off  victorious. 

The  most  enlightened  of  all  the  califs  was  Alma- 
men,  who  has  rendered  his  name  immortal  by  his 
exertions  in  favour  of  the  sciences.     It  was  during  his 
reign  that  the  Arabian  schools  came  to  be  thoroughly 
acquainted   with  Greek   science;    he  procured   the 
translation  of  a  great  number  of  important  works. 
This  conduct  inflamed  the  religious  zeal  of  the  futh- 
ful,  who   devoted  him    to  destruction,   and  to  the 
divme  wrath,  for  favouring  philosophy,  and  in  that 
^ay  diminishing   the  authority  of  the  Koran.     Al- 
mamon  purchased  the  ancient  cliBissics,  from  all  quar- 
ters, and  recommended  the  care  of  doing  so  in  a  par- 
ticular manner  to  his  ambassadors  at  the  court  of  the 
^eek  emperors.     To  Leo,  the  philosopher,  he  made 
"^e  most  advantageous  offers,  to  induce  him  to  come 
to  Bagdad ;  but  that  philosopher  would  not  listen  to 
^  invitation.     It  was  under  the  auspices  of  this  en- 
%htened  prince,  that  the  celebrated  attempt  was  made 
to  determine  the  size  of  the  earth  by  measuring  a 
r^gree  of  the  meridian.     The  result  of  this  attempt 
^^  does  not  belong  to  this  work  to  relate. 

Almotassem  and  Motawakkel,  who  succeeded  Al- 
'^'^on,  followed  his  example,  favoured  the  sciences, 
^  extended  their  protection  to  men  of  science  who 
^ere  Christians.  Motawakkel  re-established  the  ce- 
lebrated academy  and  libi*ary  of  Alexandria.  But 
"C  acted  with  more  severity  than  his  predecessors  with 
regard  to  the  Christians,  who  may  perhaps  have 
abused  the  tolerance  which  they  enjoyed. 

The  other  vicars  of  the  prophet,  in  the  different 
Mahometan  states,  followed  the  fine  example  set  them 
b;  Almamgn.    Already  in  the  eig-hth  century  ll[i^  ^ONt^ 

VOL.  I,  I 


114  HISTORY  O?  CHEMISTRY. 

reigns  of  Mogreb  and  th6  western  provinces  of  Africa 
showed  themselves  the  zealous  friends  of  the  sciences* 
One  of  them  called  Abdallah-Ebn-Ibadschab  ren- 
dered commerce  and  industry  flourishing  at  Tunis. 
He  himself  cultivated  poetry  and  drew  munerous 
artists  and  men  of  science  into  his  state.  At  Fez  and 
in  Morocco  the  sciences  flourished^  especially  during 
the  reign  of  the  Edrisites,  the  last  of  whom,  Jahiah,  a 
prince  possessed  of  genius,  sweetness,  and  goodness^ 
changed  his  court  into  an  academy,  and  paid  atten- 
tion to  those  only  who  had  distinguished  themselves 
by  their  scientific  knowledge. 

But  Spain  was  the  most  fortunate  of  all  the  Ma- 
hometan states,  and  had  arrived  at  such  a  degree  of 
prosperity  both  in  commerce,  manufactures,  popula- 
tion, and  wealth,  as  is  hardly  to  be  credited.  The 
three  Abdalrahmans  and  Alhakem  carried,  from  the 
eighth  to  the  tenth  century,  the  country  subject  to  the 
Calif  of  Cordova  to  the  highest  degree  of  splendour. 
They  protected  the  sciences,  and  governed  with  so 
much  mildness,  that  Spain  was  probably  never  so 
happy  under  the  dominion  of  any  Christian  prince* 
Alhakem  established  at  Cordova  an  academy,  which 
for  several  ages  was  the  most  celebrated  in  the  whole 
world.  All  the  Christians  of  Western  Europe  re* 
paired  to  this  academy  in  search  of  information.  It 
contained,  in  the  tenth  century,  a  library  of  280,000 
volumes.  The  catalogue  of  this  library  filled  no  less 
than  forty-four  volumes.  Seville,  Toledo,  and  Murcia; 
had  likewise  their  schools  of  science  and  their  libraries, 
which  retained  their  celebrity  as  long  as  the  dominion 
of  the  Moors  lasted.  In  the  twelfth  century  there 
were  seventy  public  libraries  in  that  part  of  Spain 
which  belonged  to  the  Mahometans.  Cordova  had 
produced  one  hundred  and  fifty  authors,  Almeria  fifty* 
two,  and  Murcia  sixty-two. 

The  Mahometan  states  of  the  east  continued  ali<^ 
to  favour  the  sciences.    Au  emir  of  Irak,  Adad-£ii« 


CH£]tl8TK.T  or  TBI.  AKASUNS. 


115 


Daula  by  name,  distinguished  himself  towards  the 
end  of  the  tenth  century  by  the  protection  which  he 
afforded  to  men  of  science.  To  him  almost  all  the 
philosophers  of  the  age  dedicated  their  works.  Ano- 
ther emir  of  Irak,  Saif-£d-Daula,  established  schools 
at  Kufa  and  at  Bussora,  which  soon  acquired  great  ce- 
lebrity. Abou-Mansor-Baharani,  established  a  public 
library  at  Firuzabad  in  Curdistan,  which  at  its  very 
commencement  contained  7000  volumes.  In  the 
thirteenth  century  there  e:<isted  a  celebrated  school  of 
medicine  in  Damascus.  The  cahfMalek-Adol  endowed 
it  richly,  and  was  often  present  at  the  lectures  with  a 
book  under  his  arm. 

Had  the  progress  of  the  sciences  among  the  Ara- 
bians been  proportional  to  the  number  of  those  who 
cultivated  them,  we  might  hail  the  Saraceas  as  the 
saviours  of  literature  during  the  dark  and  benighted 
ages  of  Christianity :  but  we  must  acknowledge  with 
regret,  that  notwithstanding  the  enlightened  views  of 
the  califs,  notwithstanding  the  multiplicity  of  acade- 
mies and  libraries,  and  the  prodigious  number  of 
writers,  the  sciences  received  but  litde  improvement 
from  the  Arabians.  There  are  very  few  Arabian 
writers  in  whose  works  we  find  either  philosophical 
ideas,  successful  researches,  new  facts,  or  great  and 
new  and  important  truths.  How,  indeed,  could  such 
things  be  expected  from  a  people  naturally  hostile  to 
mental  exertion;  professing  a  religion  which  stigma- 
tizes all  esercise  of  the  judgment  as  a  crime,  and 
weighed  down  by  the  heavy  yoke  of  despotism?  It 
was  the  religion  of  the  Arabians,  and  the  despotism 
^—nC  their  princes,  that  opposed  the  greatest  obstacles 
HBft>the  progress  of  the  sciences,  even  during  the  most 
^Hnniishing  period  of  their  civilization."    Fortunately 

^^  "  For  a  fuller  account  of  tht  progreas  of  science  among;  tlie 
Arabian*  thiin  would  be  contiatent  wilh  this  work,  llie  resdET  (a 
referred  lo  MorCucla'g  Hist.  d«s  MaUiemaliqQeB,  i,  J51-,  ^ 

**1'd  DEaf    Vlula  KKM^-^imm    I!   OJJZ 


116  BtfTORT  07  CHEMISTKT. 

chemistry  was  the  branch  of  science  least  obnozioas 
to  the  refigious  prejudices  of  the  Mahometans.  It  was 
in  it,  therefore,  tl^t  the  greatest  improyements  were 
made :  of  these  improvements  it  will  be  requisite  now 
to  endeavouj  to  give  the  reader  some  idea.  Astros 
logy  and  alchymy,  they  both  derived  from  the  Greeks : 
neither  of  them  were  mconsistent  with  the  taste  of  the 
nation — ^neither  of  them  were  anathematized  by  the 
Mahometan  creed,  though  Islamism  prohibited  magic 
and  all  the  arts  of  divination.  Alchymy  may  haire 
suggested  the  chemical  processes — ^but  the  Arabians 
applied  them  to  the  preparation  of  medicines,  and 
thus  opened  a  new  and  most  copious  source  of  inves- 
tigation. 

The  chemical  writings  of  the  Arabians  which  I  have 
had  an  opportunity  of  seeing  and  perusing  in  a  Latin 
dress,  being  ignorant  of  the  original  language  in  which 
they  were  written,  are  those  of  Geber  and  Avicenna, 

Geber,  whose  real  name  was  Abou-Moussah-* 
Dschafar-Al-Soli,  was  a  Sabean  of  Harran,  in  Me- 
sopotamia, and  lived  during  the  eighth  century.  *  Very 
little  is  known  respecting  the  history  of  this  writer, 
who  must  be  considered  as  the  patriarch  of  chemistry. 
Golius,  professor  of  the  oriental  languages  in  the 
University  of  Leyden,  made  a  present  of  Geber's  work 
in  manuscript  to  the  public  library.  He  translated  it 
into  Latin,  and  published  it  in  the  same  city  in  folio^ 
and  afterwards  in  quarto,  under  the  title  of  *^  Lapis 
Philosophorum."*  It  was  translated  into  English  b{ 
Richard  Russel  in  1678,  under  the  title  of,  **  The 
Works  of  Geber,  the  most  famous  Arabian  Prince  and 
Philosopher,  "t     The  works  of  Geber,  so  far  as  they 

I 

• 

*  Boerhaave's Chemifltiy  (Shaw's  translation),  i.  26.  Noie,  «r 

f  Golius  was  not,   however,  the  first  translator  of  Gebot 

A  translation  of  the  longest  and  most  important  of .  his  tracts 

into  Latin  appeared  in  Strasburg,  in  1529.    There  was  anoithiV 

translation  published  in  Italy,  from  a  manuscript  in  the  yi%r 

tican.    There  probably  luight  be  other  translstions,    I  r)0f§ 


CHXXIftTRT  OP  THE  AKABIAKS.  117 

appeared  in  Latin  or  English,  consist  of  four  tracts. 
Tlie  first  is  entitled,  ^'  Of  the  Investigation  or  Search 
of  Perfection."  The  second  is  entitled,  "  Of  the  Sum 
of  Perfection,  or  of  the  perfect  Magistery."  The 
third,  "  Of  the  Invention  of  Verity  or  Perfection." 
And  the  last,  '^  Of  Furnaces,  &c.;  with  a  Recapitula- 
tion of  the  Author*s  Experiments." 
-  The  object  of  Gcber's  work  is  to  teach  the  method 
of  making  the  philosopher's  stone,  which  he  distin- 
guishes usually  by  the  name  of  medicine  of  the  third 
cUas*  The  whole  is  in  general  written  with  so  much 
plainness,  that  we  can  understand  the  nature  of  the 
substances  which  he  employed,  the  processes  which 
he  followed,  and  the  greater  number  of  the  products 
wliich  he  obtained.  It  is,  therefore,  a  book  of  some 
importance,  because  it  is  the  oldest  chemical  treatise 
in  existence,*  and  because  it  makes  us  acquainted 
with  the  processes  followed  by  the  Arabians,  and  the 
progress  which  they  had  made  in  chemical  investiga- 
tions. I  shall  therefore  lay  before  the  reader  the  most 
important  facts  contained  in  Geber's  work. 

1.  Reconsidered  all  the  metals  as  compounds  of 
mercury  and  sulphur:  this  opinion  did  not  originate 
with  him.  It  is  evident  from  what  he  says,  that  the 
same  notion  had  been  adopted  by  his  predecessors — 
men  whom  he  speaks  of  under  the  title  of  the 
ancients. 

2.  The  metals  with  which  he  was  acquainted  were 
gioldy  silver,  copper ,  iron,  tin,  and  lead.  These  are: 
usually  distinguished  by  him  under  the  names  of  Sol^ 
Luna^  Venus,  Mars,  Jupiter,  and  Saturn,     Whether 

compared  four  different  copies  of  Geber's  works,  and  found 
some  differences,  though  not  very  material.  I  have  followed 
RusseFs  English  translation  most  commonly,  as  upon  the  whole 
the  most  accurate  that  I  have  seen. 

*  Of  course  I  exclude  the  writings  of  the  Greek  ecclesiasties 
mentioned  in  a  previous  p^rt  of  this  work,  which  still  con- 
tinue in  roantuwript;  beaiusejl  am  ignorant  of  what  they 
contain. 


IIB  BISTOKT  4>F  CHElfan*AT. 

these  nameB  of  the  planets  were  applied  to  the  metah 
by  Geber,  or  only  by  his  translators,  I  cannot  say ; 
but  they  were  always  employed  by  the  alchymists, 
who  never  designated  the  metals  by  any  other  ap* 
pellations. 

3.  Gold  and  silver  he  considered  as  perfect  metals ; 
but  the  other  four  were  imperfect  metals.  The  dif- 
ibrence  between  them  depends,  in  his  opinion,  partly 
upon  the  proportions  of  mercury  and  sulphur  ia  each, 
and  partly  upon  the  purity  or  impurity  of  the  mercury 
and  sulphur  which  enters  into  the  composition  of  each. 

Gold,  according  to  him,  is  created  of  the  most 
subtile  substance  of  mercury  and  of  most  clear  fixture, 
and  of  a  small  substance  of  sulphur,  clean  and  of  pure 
redness,  fixed,  clear,  and  changed  from  its  own  nature, 
tinging  that ;  and  because  there  happens  a  diversity  in 
the  colours  of  that  sulphur,  the  yellowness  of  gold 
must  needs  have  a  like  diversity.*  His  evidence  that 
gold  consisted  chiefly  of  mercury,  is  the  great  ease 
with  which  mercury  dissolves  gold.  For  mercury,  in 
his  opinion,  dissolves  nothing  that  is  not  of  its  own 
nature.  The  lustre  and  splendour  of  gold  is  another 
proof  of  the  great  proportion  of  mercury  which  it  con- 
tains. That  it  is  a  fixed  substance,  void  of  all  burn- 
ing sulphur,  he  thinks  evident  by  every  operation  m 
the  fire,  for  it  is  neither  diminished  nor  inflamed. 
His  other  reasons  are  not  so  intelligible.f 

Silver,  like  gold,  is  composed  of  much  mercury  and 
a  little  sulphur;  but  in  the  gold  the  sulphur  is  red; 
whereas  the  sulphur  that  goes  to  the  formation  of 
silver  is  white.  The  sulphur  in  silver  is  also  cieaa^ 
fixed,  and  clear.  Silver  has  a  purity  short  of  that  of 
gold,  and  a  more  gross  inspissation.  The  proof  of 
this  is,  that  its  parts  are  not  so  condensed,  nor  is  i| 
so  fixed  as  gold;  for  it  may  be  diminished  by  fira^ 
which  is  not  the  case  with  gold.J    , 

*  Sum  of  Perfection,  book  ii.  part  i.  chap.  5. 
t  Ibid.        X  Ibid.,  chap.  6. 


CHEMISTET  OF  THE  A&ABIAKS.  lid 

Iron*  is  composed  of  earthy  mercury  and  earthy 
sulphur,  highly  fixed,  the  latter  in  by  far  the  greatest 
quantity.  Sulphur,  by  the  work  of  fixation,  more  ea- 
sily destroys  the  easiness  of  liquefaction  than  mercury. 
Hence  the  reason  why  iron  is  not  fusible,  as  is  the 
case  with  the  other  metals.* 

Sulphur  not  fixed  melts  sooner  than  mercury ;  but 
fixed  sulphur  opposes  fusion.  What  contains  more 
fixed  sulphur,  more  slowly  admits  of  fusion  than  what 
partakes  of  burning  sulphur,  which  more  easily  and 
sooner  flows. f 

Copper  is  composed  of  sulphur  unclean,  gross  and 
fixed  as  to  its  greater  part ;  but  as  to  its  lesser  part 
not  fixed,  red,  and  livid,  in  relation  to  the  whole  not 
overcoming  nor  overcome  and  of  gross  mercury.  I 

When  copper  is  exposed  to  ignition,  you  may  dis- 
cern a  sulphureous  flame  to  arise  from  it,  which  is  a 
sign  of  sulphur  not  fixed ;  and  the  loss  of  the  quantity 
of  it  by  exhalation  through  the  freqilent  combustion 
of  it,  shows  that  it  has  fixed  sulphur.  This  last  be- 
ing in  abundance,  occasions  the  slowness  of  its  fu- 
«ion  and  the  hardness  of  its  substance.  That  copper 
contains  red  and  unclean  sulphur,  united  to  unclean 
mercury,  is,  he  thinks,  evident,  from  its  sensible 
qualities.  § 

Tin  consists  of  sulphur  of  small  fixation,  white  with 
a  whiteness  not  pure,  not  overcoming  but  overcome, 
mixed  with  mercury  partly  fixed  and  partly  not  fixed, 
white  and  impure.  ||  That  this  is  the  constitution  of 
tin  he  thinks  evident ;  for  when  calcined,  it  emits  a 
sulphureous  stench,  which  is  a  sign  of  sulphur  not 
fixed :  it  yields  no  flame,  not  because  the  sulphur  is 
'fixed,  but  because  it  contains  a  great  portion  of  mer- 
cury. In  tin  there  is  a  twofold  sulphur  and  also  a 
twofold  mercury.  One  sulphur  is  less  fixed,  because 
in  calcining  it  gives  out  a  stench  as  sulphur.   The  fixed 

*  Sum  of  Perfection,  book  ii.  part  i.  chap.  7, 

t  Ibid.         X  Ibid.,  chap.  8.         §  Ibid,         \\  Ibl^u^  cV«^,^, 


120  HISTORY  OP  CHEMISTEY. 

sulphur  continues  in  the  tin  after  it  is  calcined.  He 
thinks  that  the  twofold  mercury  in  tin  is  evident,  from 
this,  that  before  calcination  it  makes  a  crashing 
noise  when  bent,  but  after  it  has  been  thrice  cal- 
cined, that  crashing  noise  can  no  longer  be  per- 
ceived.* Geber  says,  that  if  lead  be  washed  with 
mercury,  and  after  its  washing  melted  in  a  fire  not 
exceeding  the  fire  of  its  fusion,  a  portion  of  the  mer- 
cury will  remain  combined  with  the  lead,  and  will 
give  it  the  crashing  noise  and  all  the  qualities  of  tin,^ 
On  the  other  hand,  you  may  convert  tin  into  lead. 
By  manifold  repetition  of  its  calcination,  and  the  ad- 
ministration of  fire  convenient  for  its  reduction,  it  is 
turned  into  lead.f 

Lead,  in  Geber's  opinion,  differs  from  tin  only  in 
having  a  more  unclean  substance  commixed  of  the 
two  more  gross  substances,  sulphur  and  mercury. 
The  sulphur  in  it  is  burning  and  more  adhesive  to  the 
substance  of  its  own  mercury,  and  it  has  more  of  the 
substance  of  fixed  sulphur  in  its  composition  than  tin 
has.J 

Such  are  the  opinions  which  Geber  entertained  re- 
specting the  composition  of  the  metals.     I  have  been 
induced  to  state  them  as  nearly  in  his  own  words  aft 
possible,  and  to  give  the  reasons  which  he  has  assigned 
for  them,  even  when  his  facts  were  not  quite  correct,r 
because  I  thought  that  this  was  the  most  likely  way  of  • 
conveying  to  the  reader  an  accurate  notion  of  the  sen- 
timents of  this  father  of  the  alchymists,  upon  the  verj^ 
foundation  of  the  whole  doctrine  of  the  transmutatioi% 
of  metals.     He  was  of  opinion  that  all  the  imperfect^^ 
metals  might  be  transformed  into  gold  and  silver,  by{ . 
altering  the  proportions  of  the  mercury  and  sulphur  (2|' 
which  they  are  composed,  and  by  changing  the  natui% 
of  the  mercury  and  sulphur  so  as  to  make  them  ibj^ 
same  with  the  mercury  and  sulphur  which  constita|% 

*  Sam  of  Perfection,  book  ii.  part  i.  chap.  9.  - 1 

flbid.       J  Ibid.,  chap.  10. 


CnEMlSTRT  c 

gold  and  silver.  The  subtance  capable  of  producing^ 
these  important  changes  he  calls  sometimes  thepAifo- 
sopher's  stone,  but  generally  the  Tnedi<nne.  He  gives 
the  method  of  preparing  this  important  magiitery,  as 
he  calls  it.  But  it  is  not  north  while  to  state  his  pro- 
cess, because  he  leaves  out  several  particulars,  in 
order  to  prevent  the  foolish  from  reaping  any  benefit 
from  his  wTitings,  while  at  ihe  same  time  those  readers 
who  possess  the  proper  degree  of  sagacity  will  be  able, 
hy  studying  the  different  parts  of  his  writings,  to  di- 
vme  the  nature  of  the  steps  which  he  omits,  and  thus 
profit  by  his  researches  and  explanations.  But  it 
will  be  worth  while  to  notice  the  most  important  of 
his  processes,  because  this  will  enable  us  to  judge  of 
the  state  of  chemistry  in  bis  time. 

4.  In  his  book  on  furnaces,  he  gives  a  description 
of  a  furnace  proper  for  calcining  metals,  and  from 
the  fourteenth  chapter  of  the  fourth  part  of  the  first 
book  of  his  Sum  of  Perfection,  it  is  obvious  that 
the  method  of  calcining  or  oxidizing  iron,  copper, 
tin,  and  lead,  and  also  mercury  and  arsenic  were  fa- 
miliarly known  to  him. 

He  gives  a  description  of  a  furnace  for  distilling, 
and  a  pretty  minute  account  of  the  glass  or  stone- 
ware, or  metallic  aludel  and  alembic,  by  means  of 
which  the  process  was  conducted.  He  was  in  the 
habit  of  distilling  by  surrounding  his  ahidel  'with  hot 
ashes,  to  prevent  it  from  being  broken.  He  was  ac- 
quainted also  with  the  water-bath.  These  processes  were 
familiar  to  him.  The  description  of  the  distillation  of 
many  bodies  occurs  in  his  work ;  but  there  is  not  the 
least  evidence  that  he  was  acquainted  with  ardent 
spirits.  The  term  i^rit  occurs  frequently  in  his 
writings,  but  it  was  applied  to  volatile  bodies  in  gene- 
ral, and  in  particular  to  sulphur  and  white  arsenic, 
which  he  considered  as  substances  very  similar  in  their 
properties.     Mercury  also  he  considered  as  asplrit. 

The  method  of  distilling- /*er  descensum,  a& "»  ^taa- 


122:  HISTORY  OF  CHEMISTRY. 

ttsed  in  the  smelting  of  zinc,  was  also  known  to  him* 
He  describes  an  apparatus  for  the  purpose,  and  gives 
several  examples  of  such  distillations  in  his  writings. 

He  gives  also  a  description  of  a  furnace  for  melting 
metals,  and  mentions  the  vessels  in  which  such  pro« 
cesses  were  conducted.  He  was  acquainted  with  era* 
cibles ;  and  even  describes  the  mode  of  making  cupetei 
nearly  similar  to  those  used  at  present.  The  process 
of  cupellating  gold  and  silver,  and  purifying  them  by 
means  of  lead,  is  given  by  him  pretty  minutely  and 
accurately :  he  calls  it  cineritiuniy  or  at  least  that  is 
the  term  used  by  his  Latin  translator. 

He  was  in  the  habit  of  dissolving  salts  in  water  and 
acetic  acid,  and  even  the  metals  in  different  menstrua* 
Of  these  menstrua  he  nowhere  gives  any  account ;  but 
fr.om  our  knowledge  of  the  properties  of  the  different; 
metals,  and  from  some  processes  which  he  notices,  ^it 
is  easy  to  perceive  what  his  solvents  must  have  beeal^ 
namely,  the  mineral  acids  which  were  known  to  hxmf 
and  to  wliich  there  is  no  allusion  whatever  in  aay* 
preceding  writer  that  I  have  had  an  opportunity  <wt 
consulting.  Whether  Geber  was  the  discoverer  of  theai'' 
acids  cannot  be  known,  as  he  nowhere  claims  the  disV 
covery :  indeed  his  object  was  to  slur  over  these  acid^ 
as  much  as  possible,  that  their  existence,  or  at  leaW 
their  remarkable  properties,  might  not  be  suspected  IJ^ 
the  uninitiated.    It  was  this  affectation  of  secrecy  awl 
mystery  that  has  deprived  the  earliest  chemists  of  iJhak 
credit  and  reputation  to  which  they  would  have  beiilt 
justly  entitled,  had  their  discoveries  been  made  knotf^f 
to  the  public  in  a  plain  and  intelligible  manner.        "^ 

The  mode  of  punfying  liquids  by  filtration,  andjrfl. 
separating  precipitates  from  liquids  by  the  same  metttlff 
was  known  to  Geber.  He  called  the  process  distithf^- 
turn  through  a  filter.  .\  \l^ 

Thus  the  greater  number  of  chemical  processes,  smtf 

as  thej  were  practised  almost  to  the  end  of  the  eighteendl 

century,  were  known  to  Geber.    If  we  compare  Us 


cHsxmrET  or  the  arabxaks.  123 

Vttb  with  those  of  Dioscorides  and  Pliny»  we  shall 
perceive  the  great  progress  which  chemistry  or  rather 
pharmacy  had  made.  It  is  more  than  probable  that 
these  improvements  were  made  by  the  Arabian  phy- 
ttciansy  or  at  least  by  the  physicians  who  filled  the 
ehaiis  in  the  medical  schools,  which  were  under  the 
protection  of  the  califii :  for  as  no  notice  is  taken  of 
these  processes  by  any  of  the  Greek  or  Roman  writers 
that  have  come  down  to  us,  and  as  we  find  them 
Qunutely  described  by  the  earliest  chemical  writers 
^Qog  the  Arabians,  we  have  no  other  alternative 
than  to  admit  that  they  originated  in  the  east. 

I  shall  now  state  the  different  chemical  substances 
®r  preparations  which  were  known  to  Geber,  or  which 
he  describes  the  method  of  preparing  in  his  works. 

1.  Common  salt.  This  substance  occurring  in  such 
Sundance  in  the  earth,  and  being  indispensable  as  a 
•^asoner  of  food,  was  known  from  the  earliest  ages, 
^ut  Geber  describes  the  method  which  he  adopted  to 
"^ee  it  from  impurities.  It  was  exposed  to  a  red  heat, 
^en  dissolved  in  water,  filtered,  crystallized  by  evapo- 
^tion,  and  the  crystals  being  exposed  to  a  red  heat, 
^ere  put  into  a  close  vessel,  and  kept  for  use.* 
Whether  the  identity  of  sal-gem  {native  salt)  and 
^^mon  salt  was  known  to  Geber  is  nowhere  said. 
*^robably  not,  as  he  gives  separate  directions  for 
P^irifying  each. 

2.  Geber  gives  an  account  of  the  two  fixed  alkalies, 
Pot€isk  and  soda^  and  gives  processes  for  obtaining 
them.  Potash  was  obtained  by  burning  cream  of  tar* 
t^  in  a  crucible,  dissolving  the  residue  in  water,  filter- 
^  the  solution,  and  evaporating  to  dryness,  f  This 
^^d  yield  a  pure  carbonate  of  potash. 

Carbonate  of  soda  he  calls  sagimen  vitri,  and  salt 
of  soda.  He  mentions  plants  which  yi^ld  it  when 
humt,  points  out  the  method  of  purifying  it,  and  even 

*  Investigation  ftod  Search  of  Perfection,  chap,  3. 
t  Invention  of  Verity,  chap,  4. 


124  .     HISTORY  OP   CHEMISTRT. 

describes  the  method  of  rendering  it  caustic  by  mexas 
of  quicklime.  * 

3.  Saltpetre,  or  nitrate  of  potash,  was  known  to 
him ;  and  Geber  is  the  first  writer  in  whom  we  find  an^ 
account  of  this  salt.  Nothing  is  said  respecting  ita 
origin ;  but  there  can  be  little  doubt  that  it  cam6 
from  India,  where  it  was  collected,  and  known  loitg 
before  Europeans  were  acquainted  with  it.  The  know- 
ledge of  this  salt  was  probably  one  great  cause  of  the 
superiority  of  the  Arabians  over  Europeans  in  chemical 
knowledge ;  for  it  enabled  them  to  procure  nitric  add^ 
by  means  of  which  they  dissolved  all  the  metals  known 
in  their  time,  and  thus  acquired  a  knowledge  of  va- 
rious important  saline  compounds,  which  were  of  con- 
siderable importance. 

There  is  a  process  for  preparing  saltpetre  artificially, 
in  several  of  the  Latin  copies  of  Geber,  though  it  doen 
not  appear  in  our  English  translation.     The  method 
was  to  dissolve  sagimen  vitri,  or  carbonate  of  soda,  ia 
aqua  fortis,  to  filter  and  crystallize  by  evaporation.-f 
If  this  process  be  genuine,  it  is  obvious  that  Gebe*» 
must  have  been  acquainted  with  nitrate  of  soda ;   but  - 
I  have  some  doubts  about  the  genuineness  of  the  pas-k: 
sage,  because  the  term  aquafortis  occurs  in  it.     Not*! 
this  term  occurs  nowhere  else  in  Geber's  work:  ereu* 
when  he  gives  the  process  for  procuring  nitric  acid,  Iptf " 
calls  it  simply  water ;  but  observes,  that  it  is  a  watfl^ 
possessed  of  much  virtue,  and  that  it  constitutes  ll- 
precious  instrument  in  the  hands  of  the  man  wW 
possesses  sagacity  to  use  it  aright.  -i 

4.  Sal  ammoniac  was  known  to  Geber,  and  seentf 
to  have  been  quite  common  in  his  time.     There  is  nHii  : 
evidence  that  it  was  known  to  the  Greeks  or  Romans, 
as  neither  Dioscorides  nor  Pliny  make  any  idlusiott'' 
to  it.     The  word  in  old  books  is  sometimes  sal  otitmH* 
niac^  sometimes  sal  ammoniac.     It  is  supposed  ^F 

*  Search  of  Perfection,  chap.  3. 

t  De  InvestigatioDe  Perfect,  chap.  4. 


CHEMISTRY  OF  THE  ARABIANS.  125 

have  been  brought  originally  from  the  nei^bourhood 
of  the  temple  of  Jupiter  Ammon  :  but  had  this  been 
the  case,  and  had  it  occurred  native,  it  could  scarcely 
have  been  unknown  to  the  Romans,  under  whose 
dominions  that  part  of  Africa  fell.  In  the  writings  of 
the  alchymistSy  sal  ammoniac  is  mentioned  under  the 
following  whimsical  names : 

Anima  sensibilis, 

Aqua  duorum  fratrum  ex  sorore, 

Aquila, 

Lapis  aquilinis, 

Cancer, 

Lapis  angeli  conjungentis, 

Sal  lapidum, 

Sal  alocoph. 
Geber  not  only  knew  sal  ammoniac,  but  he  was 
aware  of  its  volatility;  and  gives  various  processes 
for  subliming  it,  and  uses  it  frequently  to  promote  the 
sublimation  of  other  bodies,  as  of  oxides  of  iron  and 
copper.  He  gives  also  a  method  of  procuring  it  from 
urine,  a  liquid  which,  when  allowed  to  run  into  putre- 
faction, is  known  to  yield  it  in  abundance  Sal 
ammoniac  was  much  used  by  Geber,  in  his  various 
processes  to  bring  the  inferior  metals  to  a  state  of 
greater  perfection.  By  adding  it  or  common  salt  to 
aqua  fortis,  he  was  enabled  to  dissolve  gold,  which 
certainly  could  not  be  accomplished  in  the  time  of 
Dioscorides  or  Pliny.  The  description,  indeed,  of 
Geber's  process  for  dissolving  gold  is  left  on  purpose 
in  a  defective  state ;  but  an  attentive  reader  will  find 
no  great  difficulty  in  supplying  the  defects,  and  thus 
understanding  the  whole  of  the  process. 

5.  Alum,  precisely  the  same  as  the  alum  of  the 
modems,  was  familiarly  known  to  Geber,  and  em- 
ployed by  him  in  his  processes.  The  manufacture  of 
this  salt,  therefore,  had  been  discovered  between  the 
time  when  Pliny  composed  his  Natural  History  and 


126  RISTOBT  07  CH£MI8TAY. 

the  eighth  century,  when  Geber  wrote;  unless  we 
admit  that  the  mode  of  making  it  had  been  known  to 
the  Tyrian  dyers,  but  that  they  had  kept  the  secret 
so  well,  that  no  suspicion  of  its  existence  was  enter* 
tained  by  the  Greeks  and  Romans.  That  they  em-* 
ployed  alumina  as  a  mordant  in  some  of  their  dyes, 
is  evident ;  but  there  is  no  proof  whatever  that  alunif 
in  the  modern  sense  of  the  word,  was  known  to  them. 

Geber  mentions  three  alums  which  he  was  in  the 
habit  of  using;  namely,  icy  alum,  or  Rocca  alum; 
Jamenous  alum,  or  alum  of  Jameni,  and  feather  alum. 
jRocca,  or  Edessa,  in  Syria,  is  admitted  to  have  been 
the  place  where  the  first  manufactory  of  alum  was 
established ;  but  at  what  time,  or  by  whom,  is  quite 
unknown  :  we  know  only  that  it  must  have  been  pos- 
terior to  the  commencement  of  the  Christian  era,  and 
prior  to  the  eighth  century,  when  Geber  wrote.     Ja-» 
meni  must  have  been  another  locality,  where,  at  th« 
time  of  Geber,  a  manufactory  of  alum  existed.  Feather 
alum  was  undoubtedly  one  of  the  native  impure  Va- 
rieties of  alum,  known  to  the  Greeks  and  Romans* 
G^ber  was  in  the  habit  of  distilling  alum  by  a  strong 
heat,  and  of  preserving  the  water  which  came  ovor 
as  a  valuable  menstruum.      If  alum  be  exposed  to  a 
red  heat  in  glass  vessels,  it  will  give  out  a  portion  of 
sulphuric  acid:  hence  water  distilled  from  alum  by    ' 
Geber  was  probably  a  weak  solution  of  sulphuric  acid, 
which  would  undoubtedly  act  powerfully  as  a  solvent 
of  iron,  and  of  the  alkaline  carbonates.     It  was  pro- 
bably in  this  way  that  he  used  it. 

6.  Sulphate  of  iron  or  copperas,   as  it  is  called 
(cuperosa),  in  the  state  of  a  crystalline  salt,  was  well 
known  to  Geber,  and  appears  in  his  time  to  have  been.^ 
manufactured. 

7.  Baurach,  or  borax,  is  mentioned  by  him,  but 
without  any  description  by  which  we  can  know  whether 
or  not  it  was  our  borax :  the  probability  is  that  it  wuk 


CHBJRST&T  or  THE  A&AStAKS.  127 

Both  glass  and  borax  were  used  by  him  when  the 
oxides  of  metals  were  reduced  by  him  to  the  metallic 
state. 

8.  Vinegar  wa^purified  by  him  by  distilling  it  over^ 
and  it  was  used  as  a  solvent  in  many  of  his  processes. 

9.  Nitric  acid  was  known  to  him  by  the  name  of 
di$$olving  water.  He  prepared  it  by  putting  into  an 
alembic  one  pound  of  sulphate  of  iron  of  Cyprus,  half 
a  pound  of  saltpetre,  and  a  quarter  of  a  pound  of  alum 
oi^Jameni :  this  mixture  was  distilled  till  every  thing 
liquid  was  driven  over.  He  mentions  the  red  fumes 
which  make  their  appearance  in  the  alembic  during 
the  process.*  This  process,  though  not  an  econo« 
micsd  one,  would  certainly  yield  nitric  acid ;  and  it  is 
remarkable,  because  it  is  here  that  we  find  the  first 
hmtof  the  knowledge  of  chemists  of  this  most  im-^ 
portant  acid,  without  which  many  chemical  proces-* 
ses  of  the  utmost  importance  could  not  be  performed 
at  all. 

10.  This  acid,  thus  prepared,  he  made  use  of  to 
dissolve  silver :  the  solution  was  concentrated  till  the 
nitrate  of  silver  was  obtained  by  him  in  a  crystallized 
state.  This  process  is  thus  described  by  him  :  *^  Dis- 
solve silver  calcined  in  solutive  water  (nitric  acid),  as 
before ;  which  being  done,  coct  it  in  a  phial  with  a 
long  neck,  the  orifice  of  which  must  be  left  unstopped, 
for  one  day  only,  until  a  third  part  of  the  water  be 
consumed.  This  being  effected,  set  it  with  its  vessel 
in  a  cold  place,  and  then  it  is  converted  into  small 
fusible  stones,  like  crystal.^f 

11.  He  was  in  the  habit  also  of  dissolving  sal 
ammoniac  in  this  nitric  acid,  and  employing  the  solu- 
tion, which  was  the  aqua  regia  of  the  old  chemists,  to 
dissolve  gold.  %  He  assures  us  that  this  aqua  regia 
would  dissolve  likewise  sulphur  and  silver.  The  latter 
assertion  is  erroneous.    But  sulphur  is  easily  converted 

»  ImveAtiwitrf  Verity,  cliap.  23. 

t  Ibid.,  chap.  21.       J  Ibid.,  chsp,  23* 


128  HISTORY  OF  CHEMI8TRT. 

into  sulphuric  acid  by  the  action  of  aqua  regia,'  and 

"Tf  course  it  disappears  or  dissolves. 

3  l2.  Corrosive  sublimate  is  likewise  described 

I  Geber  in  a  very  intelligible  manner.     His  method 

preparing  it  was  as  follows :  **  Take  of  mercury  i 

pound,  of  dried  sulphate  of  iron  two  pounds,  of  al 

calcined  one  pound,  of  common  salt  half  a  pou 

1^1  and  of  saltpetre  a  quarter  of  a  pound :  incorpoi 

altogether  by  trituration  and  sublime;  gather 
white,  dense,  and  ponderous  portions  which  shall 
found  about  the  sides  of  the  vessel.  If  in  the  f 
sublimation  you  find  it  turbid  or  unclean  (which  n 
happen  by  reason  of  your  own  negligence),  sublim 
second  time  with  the  same  fuses."  *  Still  more  min 
directions  are  given  in  other  parts  of  the  work : 
have  even  some  imperfect  account  of  the  properties 
corrosive  sublimate. 

13.  Corrosive  sublimate  is  not  the  only  prepe 
tion  of  mercury  mentioned  by  Geber.  He  infoi 
us  that  when  mercury  is  combined  with  sulp] 
it  assumes  a  red  colour,  and  becomes  cinnabar. f 
describes  the  affinities  of  mercury  for  the  differ 
metals.  It  adheres  easily  to  three  metals ;  name 
lead,  tin,  and  gold ;  to  silver  with  more  difficulty, 
copper  with  still  more  difficulty  than  to  silver ;  bul 
iron  it  unites  in  nowise  unless  by  artifice. J  This  i 
tolerably  accurate  account  of  the  matter.  He  sa 
that  mercury  is  the  heaviest  body  in  nature  exc 
_  gold,  which  is  the  only  metal  that  will  sink  in  : 

g\  ^^^  ^^^^  ^^^  ^^"^'  applied  to  all  the  substances  kno 

i  il  when  Geber  lived. 

'I  He  gives  an  account  of  the  method  of  forming 

peroxide  of  mercury  by  heat ;  that  variety  of  it   f 
merly  distinguished  by  the  name  of  red  precipU 
Mercury,"  he  says,  **  is  also  coagulated 


C( 


qtion  fit  Verity,  chap.  8. 
)f  Perfection,  book  i.  part  iii.  chap.  4. 
«bp.6.       §  Ibid.^ 


CHEMISTRY  OP  THE  ARABIAX8.  129 

long^  and  constant  retention  in  fire,  in  a  glass  vessel 
with  a  very  long  neck  and  round  belly ;  the  orifice  of 
the  neck  being  kept  open,  that  the  humidity  may  va- 
nish tiiereby."*  He  gives  another  process  for  prepar- 
ing this  oxide,  possible,  perhaps,  though  certainly  re- 
quiring very  cautious  regulation  of  the  fire.  ''  Take,'' 
sa3f8  he,  ^'  of  mercury  one  pound,  of  vitriol  (sulphate 
of  iron)  rubified  two  pounds,  and  of  saltpetre  one 
pound.  Mortify  the  mercury  with  these,  and  then 
snblime  it  from  rock  alum  and  saltpetre  in  equal 
wc%hts."t 

•14.  Geber  was  acquainted  with  several  of  the  com- 
pounds of  metals  with  sulphur.  He  remarks  that 
snlphur  when  fused  with  metals  increases  their  weight,  t 
Copp^  combined  with  sulphur  becomes  yellow,  and 
mercury  red.§  He  knew  the  method  of  dissolving 
sulphur  in  caustic  potash,  and  again  precipitating  it 
by  the  addition  of  an  acid.  His  process  is  as  follows : 
**  Grind  clear  and  gummose  sulphur  to  a  most  subtile 
powder,  which  boU  in  a  lixivium  made  of  ashes  of 
heartsease  and  quicklime,  gathering  from  off  the 
surface  its  oleaginous  combustibility,  until  it  be  dis- 
cerned to  be  clear.  This  being  done,  stir  the  whole 
with  a  stick,  and  then  warily  take  off  that  which 
passeth  out  with  the  lixivium,  leaving  the  more  gross 
parts  in  the  bottom.  Permit  that  extract  to  cool  a 
little,  and  upon  it  pour  a  fourth  part  of  its  own 
quantity  of  distilled  vinegar,  and  then  will  the  whole 
suddenly  be  congealed  as  milk.  Remove  as  much  of 
the  clear  lixivium  as  you  can ;  but  dry  the  residue 
with  a  gentle  fire  and  keep  it."|| 

15.  It  would  appear  from  various  passages  in 
Geber's  works  that  he  was  acquainted  with  arsenic  in 
the  metallic  state.     He  frequently  mentions  its  com- 

*  Sum  of  Perfection,  book  i.  part  iv.  chap.  16. 
f  Invention  of  Verity,  chap.  10. 
X  Sum  of  Perfection,  book  i.  part  iii.  chap.  4. 
§  Ibid.  II  Invention  of  Verity,  chap.  6. 

VOL.  I.  K 


130  HISTORY   OF   CHEMISTRT* 

bustibility,  and  considers  it  as  the  compeer  of  sulphur. 
And  in  his  book  on  Furnaces,  chapter  25  (or  28  in 
some  copies),  he  expressly  mentions  metallic  arsenic 
(arsenicum  m^tallinum),  in  a  preparation  not  very  in^ 
telligible,  but  which  he  considered  of  great  importanee. 
The  white  oxide  of  arsenic  or  arsenious  acid,  was  ob- 
viously well  known  to  him.  He  gives  more  than  one 
process  for  obtaining  it  by  sublimation.*  He  observes 
in  his  Sum  of  Perfection,  book  i.  part  iv.  chap.  2,  which 
treats  of  sublimation,  "  Arsenic,  which  before  its 
sublimation  was  evil  and  prone  to  adustion,  after  its 
sublimation,  suffers  not  itself  to  be  inflamed;  but 
only  resides  without  inflammation." 

Geber  states  the  fact,  that  when  arsenic  is  heated 
with  copper  that  metal  becomes  white.f  He  gives 
also  a  process  by  which  the  white  arseniate  of  iron  is 
obviously  made.  **  Grind  one  pound  of  iron  filings 
with  half  a  pound  of  sublimed  arsenic  (arsenious  acid). 
Imbibe  the  mixture  with  the  water  of  saltpetre,  and 
salt-alkali,  repeating  this  imbibation  thrice.  Then 
make  it  flow  with  a  violent  fire,  and  you  will  have 
•your  iron  white..  Repeat  this  labour  till  it  flow  suffir- 
ciently  with  peculiar  dealbation.J: 

16.  He  mentions  oxide  of  copper  under  the  name 
of  {BS  ustum,  the  red  oxide  of  iron  under  the  name  of 
crocus  of  iron.  He  mentions  also  litharge  and  red 
lead.§  But  as  all  these  substances  were  known  to  the 
Greeks  and  Romans,  it  is  needless  to  enter  into  any 
particular  details. 

17.  I  am  not  sure  what  substance  Geber  understood 
by  the  word  marchasite.  It  was  a  substance  whidi 
must  have  been  abundant,  and  in  common  use,  for  he 
refers  to  it  frequently,  and  uses  it  in  many  of  his  pro- 
cesses ;  but  he  nowhere  informs  us  what  it  is.    1  sufl- 

*  Invention  of  Verity,  chap.  7. 

f  Sum  of  Perfection,  book  ii.  part.  ii.  chap.  11. 

i  InvontioQ  of  Verity,  chap.  14.  ^     j;^Ibid.,chap.4andl2. 


CHSlCIS<nT  OF  THE  ARABIANS.  131 

|wet  it  nay  have  been  sulphuret  of  antimony,  whieh 
was  eertainly  in  common  use  in  Asia  long  before  the 
lime  of  Geber.  But  he  also  makes  mention  of  anti- 
monj  by  nanus,  or  at  lea^t  the  Latin  translator  has  made 
use  of  the  word  antimonium.  When  speaking  of  the 
f^uction  of  metals  after  heating  them  with  sulphur, 
;hie  says,  "  The  reduction  of  tin  is  converted  into  clear 
wMimony ;  but  of  lead,  into  a  dark-coloured  antimony, 
as  we  have  found  by  proper  experience/'*  It  is  not 
easy  to  conjecture  what  meaning  the  word  antimony 
jB  intended  to  convey  in  this  passage.  In  another 
passage  he  says,  ^'  Antimony  is  calcined,  dissolved, 
l^larified,  congealed,  and  ground  to  powder,  so  it  is 

prepared,  "t 

18,  Geber's  description  of  the  metals  is  tolerably 

necurate,  considering  the  time  when  he  wrote.  As  an 
example  I  shall  subjoin  his  account  of  gold.  '^  Gold 
is  a  metallic  body,  yellow,  ponderous,  mute,  fulged, 
equally  digested  in  the  bowels  of  the  earth,  and  very 
iong  washed  with  mineral  water ;  under  the  hammer 
extensible,  fusible,  and  sustaining  the  trial  of  the  cupel 
and  cementation."J  He  gives  an  example  of  copper 
being  changed  into  gold.  "  In  copper-mines,"  he 
-says,  *'  we  see  a  certain  water  which  flows  out,  and 
carries  with  it  thin  scales  of  copper,  which  (by  a  con- 
tinual and  long-continued  course)  it  washes  and 
cleanses.  But  after  such  water  ceases  to  flow,  we  find 
these  thin  scales  with  the  dry  sand,  in  three  years  time 
to  be  digested  with  the  heat  of  the  sun ;  and  among 
these  scales  the  purest  gold  is  found :  therefore  we 
judge  those  scales  were  cleansed  by  the  benefit  of  the 
water,  but  were  equally  digested  by  heat  of  the  sun, 
in  the  dryness  of  the  sand,  and  so  brought  to  equality."§ 
Here  we  have  an  example  of  plausible  reasoning  from 

*  Sum  of  Perfection,  book  ii.  part  iii.  chap.  10. 
f  Invention  of  Verity,  chap.  4. 
X  Sum  of  Perfection,  book  i.  part  iii.  chap.  8. 
§  Ibid.,  book  i.  part  iii.  chap.  8.   ' 

K  2 


132  HISTORY  OF   CHEMISTRY. 

defective  premises.  The  gold  grains  doubtless  existed 
in  the  sand  before,  while  the  scales  of  copper  in  the 
course  of  three  years  would  be  oxidized  and  converted 
into  powder,  and  disappear,  or  at  least  lose  all  their 
metallic  lustre. 

Such  are  the  most  remarkable  chemical  facts  which 
I  have  observed  in  the  works  of  Greber.  Thev  are  so 
numerous  and  important,  as  to  entitle  him  with  some 
justice  to  the  appellation  of  the  father  and  founder  of  * 
chemistry.  Besides  the  metals,  sulphur  and  salt,  with 
which  the  Greeks  and  Romans  were  acquainted,  he 
knew  the  method  of  preparing  sulphuric  acid,  nitric 
acid ,  and  aqua  regia.  He  knew  the  method  of  dissolving 
the  metals  by  means  of  these  acids,  and  actually  pre- 
pared nitrate  of  silver  and  corrosive  sublimate.  He 
was  acquainted  with  potash  and  soda,  both  in  the  state 
of  carbonates  and  caustic.  He  was  aware  that  these 
alkalies  dissolve  sulphur,  and  he  employed  the  process 
to  obtain  sulphur  in  a  state  of  purity. 

But  notwithstanding  the  experimental  merit  of  Gre- 
ber, his  spirit  of  philosophy  did  not  much  exceed  that 
of  his  countrymen.  He  satisfied  himself  with  account- 
ing for  phenomena  by  occult  causes,  as  was  the  uni- 
versal custom  of  the  Arabians ;  a  practice  quite  in- 
consistent with  real  scientific  progress.  That  this  was 
the  case  will  appear  from  the  following  passage,  in 
which  Geber  attempts  to  give  an  explanation  of  thft 
properties  of  the  great  elixir  or  philosopher's  stone  > 
"  Therefore,  let  him  attend  to  the  properties  and  ways 
of  action  of  the  composition  of  the  greater  elixir.  Fof 
we  endeavour  to  make  one  substance,  yet  compounde4 " 
and  composed  of  many,  so  permanently  fixed,  that 
being  put  upon  the  fire,  the  fire  cannot  injure;  and 
that  it  may  be  mixed  with  metals  in  flux  and  flow  with  . 
them,  and  enter  with  that  which  in  them  is  of  an  in- 
gressible  substance,  and  be  fermented  with  that  whidi 
in  them  is  of  a  permixable  substance ;  and  be  con- 
solidated  with  that  which  in  them  is  of  a  consolidable 


CHEMISTRY   OF   THE   ARABIANS.  133 

substance ;  and  be  fixed  with  that  which  in  them  is  of 
a  fixable  substance ;  and  not  be  burnt  by  those  things 
which  bum  not  gold  and  silver ;  and  take  away  con- 
solidation and  weights  with  due  ignition.* 

The  next  Arabian  whose  name  I  shall  introduce 
into  this  history,  is  Al-Hassain-Abou-Ali-Ben-Abdal- 
lah-Ebn-Sina,  sumamed  Scheik  Reyes,  or.  prince  of 
physicians,  vulgarly  known  by  the  name  of  Avicenna, 
Next  to  Aristotle  and  Galen,  his  reputation  was  the 
highest,  and  his  authority  the  greatest  of  all  medical 
practitioners  ;  and  he  reigned  paramount,  or  at  least 
shared  the  medical  sceptre  till  he  was  hurled  from  his 
throne  by  the  rude  hands  of  Paracelsus. 

Avicenna  was  born  in  the  year  978,  at  Bokhara,  to 
which  place  his  father  had  retired  during  the  emirate 
of  the  calif  Nuhh,  one  of  the  sons  of  the  celebrated 
Almansor.     Ali,  his  father,  had  dwelt  in  Balkh,  in 
the  Chorazan.     After  the  birth  of  Avicenna  he  went  to 
Asschena  in  Bucharia,  where  he  continued  to  live  till 
his  son  had  reached  his  fifteenth  year.     No  labour  nor 
expense  was  spared  on  the  education  of  Avicenna, 
whose  abilities  were  so  extraordinary  that  he  is  said  to 
have  been  able  to  repeat  the  whole  Koran  by  heart 
at  the  age  of  ten  years.     Ali  gave  him  for  a  master 
Abou-Abdallah-Annatholi,  who  taught  him  grammar, 
dialectics,  the  geometry  of  Euclid,  and  the  astronomy 
of  Ptolemy.      But  Avicenna  quitted  his  tuition  be- 
cause he  could  not  give  him  the  solution  of  a  problem 
m  logic.     He  attached  himself  to  a  merchant,  who 
taught  him  arithmetic,  and  made  him  acquainted  with 
the  Indian  numerals  from  which  our  own  are  derived. 
He  then  undertook  a  journey  to  Bagdad,  where  he 
studied  philosophy  under  the  great  Peripatician,  Abou- 
Nasr-Alfarabi,  a  disciple  of  Mesne  the  elder.     At  the 
Same  time  he  applied  himself  to  medicine,  under  the 
tuition  of  the  Nestorian,  Abou-Sahel-Masichi.     He 


134  BtSTOftT  or  CHEMlSTRr. 

informs  us  himself  that  he  applied  with  an  extraordU 
nary  ardour  to  the  study  of  the  sciences.  He  was  in 
the  habit  of  drinking  great  quantities  of  liquids  during 
the  night,  to  prevent  him  from  sleeping ;  and  he  often 
obtained  in  a  dream  a  solution  of  those  problems  at 
which  he  had  laboured  in  vain  while  he  was  awake. 
When  the  difficulties  to  be  surmounted  appeared  to 
him  too  great,  he  prayed  to  God  to  communicate  to 
him  a  share  of  his  wisdom ;  and  these  prayers,  he  as- 
sures us,  were  never  offered  in  vain.  The  metaphysics 
of  Aristotle  was  the  only  book  which  he  could  not 
comprehend,  and  after  reading  them  over  forty  times^ 
he  threw  them  aside  with  great  anger  at  himself. 

Already,  at  the  age  of  sixteen,  he  was  a  physician 
of  eminence  ;  and  at  eighteen  he  performed  a  brillia&IT 
cure  on  the  calif  Nuhh,  which  gave  him  such  celebrity 
that  Mohammed,  Calif  of  Chorazan,  invited  him  to 
his  palace ;  but  Avicenna  rather  chose  to  reside  at 
Dschordschan,  where  he  cured  the  nephew  of  th6 
calif  Kabus  of  a  grievous  distemper. 

Afterwards  he  went  to  Ray,  where  he  was  appointed 
physician  to  Prince  Magd-Oddaula.  Here  he  com* 
posed  a  dictionary  of  the  sciences.  Sometime  aftef 
this  he  was  raised  to  the  dignity  of  vizier  at  Hamdan  j 
but  he  was  speedily  deprived  of  his  office  and  thrown 
into  prison  for  having  favoured  a  sedition.  While  in* 
carcerated  he  wrote  many  works  on  medicine  and 
pliilosophy.  By-and-by  he  was  set  at  liberty,  and 
restored  to  his  dignity ;  but  after  the  death  of  his  pro* 
tector,  Schems-Oddaula^  being  afraid  of  a  new  at- 
tempt to  deprive  him  of  his  liberty,  he  took  refuge  iit' 
the  house  or  an  apothecary,  where  he  remained  lon|f 
concealed  and  completely  occupied  with  his  literacy 
labours.  Being  at  last  discovered  he  was  thrown  ititO 
the  castle  of  Bcrdawa,  where  he  was  confined  for  foilf 
months.  At  the  end  of  that  time  a  fortunate  accident 
^iiabled  him  to  make  his  escape,  in  the  disguise  of  a 
monk.     He  repaired  to  Ispahan,  where  he  lived  much 


CHEMISTRY  OF  THE  ARABIANS.  135 

respected  at  the  court  of  the  calif  Ola-Oddaula.  He 
did  not  live  to  a  great  age,  because  he  had  worn  out 
his  constitution  by  too  free  an  indulgence  of  women 
and  wine.  Having  been  attacked  by  a  violent  colic, 
he  caused  eight  injections,  prepared  from  long  pepper, 
to  be  thrown  up  in  one  day.  Tliis  excessive  use  of  so 
irritating  a  remedy,  occasioned  an  excoriation  of  the 
intestines,  which  was  followed  by  an  attack  of  epilepsy. 
A  journey  to  Hamdan, .  in  company  with  the  calif, 
and  the  use  of  mithridate,  into  which  his  servant  by 
mistake  had  put  too  much  opium,  contributed  still  fur-> 
tber  to  put  an  end  to  his  hfe.  He  had  scarcely  arrived 
at  the  town  when  he  died  in  the  fifty-eighth  year  of 
his  1^,  in  the  year  1036. 

Avicenna  was  the  author  of  the  immense  work  en- 
titled "  Canon,"  which  was  translated  into  Latin,  and 
for  five  centuries  constituted  the  great  standard,  the  in- 
fallible guide,  the  confession  of  faith  of  the  medical 
world.  All  medical  knowledge  was  contained  in  it ; 
and  nothing  except  what  was  contained  in  it  was  consi- 
dered by  medical  men  as  of  any  importance.  When 
we  take  a  view  of  the  Canon,  and  compare  it  with  the 
writings  of  the  Greeks,  and  even  of  the  Arabians,  that 
preceded  it,  we  shall  find  some  difiiculty  in  accounting 
for  the  unbounded  authority  which  he  acquired  over 
the  medical  world,  and  for  the  length  of  time  during 
which  that  authority  continued. 

But  it  must  be  remembered,  that  Avicenna's  reign 
occupies  the  darkest  and  most  dreary  period  of  the 
history  of  the  human  mind.  The  human  race  seems  to 
have  been  asleep,  and  the  mental  faculties  in  a  state 
of  complete  torpor.  Mankind,  accustomed  in  their 
religious  opinions  to  obey  blindly  the  infallible  de- 
cisions of  the  church,  and  to  think  precisely  as  the 
church  enjoined  them  to  think,  would  naturally  look 
for  some  means  to  save  them  the  trouble  of  thinking 
on  medical  subjects ;  and  this  means  they  found  for- 
tunately in  the  canons  of  Avicenna*    These  e^xiQii*a| 


136  HISTORY   OF  CUEMISTRT. 

in  their  opinion,  were  equally  infallible  with  the  de^ 
cisions  of  the  holy  father,  and  required  to  be  as  im-* 
plicitly  obeyed.  The  whole  science  of  medicine  was 
reduced  to  a  simple  perusal  of  Avicenna's  Canon,  and 
an  implicit  adherence  to  his  rules  and  directions. 

When  we  compare  this  celebrated  work  with  the 
medical  writings  of  the  Greeks,  and  even  of  the 
Arabians,  the  predecessors  of  Avicenna,  we  shall  be 
surprised  that  it  contains  little  or  nothing  which  can 
be  considered  as  original ;  the  whole  is  borrowed  from 
the  writings  of  Gralen,  or  Mims,  or  Rhazes :  scarcdy 
ever  does  he  venture  to  trust  his  own  wings,  but  rests 
entirely  on  the  sagacity  of  his  Greek  and  Arabian 
predecessors.  Galen  is  nis  great  guide ;  or,  if  he  ever 
forsake  him,  it  is  to  place  himself  under  the  direction 
of  Aristotle. 

The  Canon  contains  a  collection  of  most  of  the 
valuable  information  contained  in  the  writings  of  the 
ancient  Greek  physicians,  arranged,  it  must  be  allow- 
ed, with  great  clearness.  The  Hhawi  of  Razes  is  al- 
most as  complete ;  but  it  wants  the  lucidus  ordo  which 
distinguishes  the  Canon  of  Avicenna.  I  conceive  that 
the  high  reputation  which  Avicenna  acquired,  was 
owing  to  the  care  which  he  bestowed  upon  his  arrange- 
ment. He  was  undoubtedly  a  man  of  abilities,  but 
not  of  inventive  genius.  There  is  little  original  matter. 
in  the  Canon.  But  the  physicians  in  the  west,  while 
Avicenna  occupied  the  medical  sceptre,  had  no  op- 
portunity of  judging  of  the  originality  of  their  oracle, 
because  they  were  unacquainted  with  the  Greek  lann 
guage,  and  could  not  therefore  consult  the  writings  oE 
Galen  or  ^tius,  except  through  the  corrupt  mediuob 
of  an  Arabian  version.  =  t 

But  it  is  not  the  medical  reputation  of  Avicenna  that> 
induced  me  to  mention  his  name  here.     like  all  tW 
Arabian  physicians,  he  was  also  a  chemist ;  and .  lam 
chemical  tracts  having  been  translated  into  Latin,  ancb 
published  in  Western  Europe,  we  are  enabled  to  judge 


CHSKISTRY  OF  THE  ARAltlANS.  137 

of  their  merit,  and  to  estimate  the  effect  which  they  may 
have  had  upon  the  progress  of  chemistry.  The  first 
Latin  translation  of  the  chemical  writings  of  Avicenna 
was  pubhshed  at  Basil  in  1572  ;  they  consist  of  two 
separate  books ;  the  first,  under  the  name  of  "  Porta 
Elementorum,*'  consists  of  a  dialogue  between  a  master 
and  his  pupil,  respecting  the  mysteries  of  Alchymy. 
He  gives  an  account  of  the  four  elements,  fire,  air, 
water,  earth,  and  gives  them  their  usual  qualities  of 
dry,  moist,  hot,  and  cold.  He  then  treats  of  air,  which, 
he  says,  is  the  food  of  fire,  of  water,  of  honey,  of  the 
mutual  conversion  of  the  elements  into  each  other ;  of 
milk  and  cheese,  of  the  mixture  of  fire  and  water,  and 
that  all  things  are  composed  of  the  four  elements. 
There  is  nothing  in  this  tract  which  has  any  pretension 
to  novelty ;  he  merely  retails  the  opinions  of  the  Greek 
philosophers. 

The  other  treatise  is  much  larger,  and  professes  to 
teach  the  whole  art  of  alchymy  ;  it  is  divided  into  ten 
parts,  entitled  "  Dictiones."  The  first  diction  treats  of 
the  philosopher's  stone  in  general ;  the  second  diction 
treats  of  the  method  of  converting  light  things  into 
heavy,  hard  things  into  soft ;  of  the  mutation  of  the 
elements ;  and  of  some  other  particulars  of  a  nature  not 
very  intelligible.  The  third  diction  treats  of  the  for- 
mation of  the  elixir ;  and  the  same  subject  is  con- 
tinued in  the  fourth. 

The  fifth  diction  is  one  of  the  most  important  in  the 
whole  treatise ;  it  is  in  general  intelligible,  which  is 
more  than  can  be  said  of  those  that  precede  it.  This 
diction  is  divided  into  twenty-eight  chapters  :  the  first 
chapter  treats  of  copper,  which,  he  says,  is  of  three 
kinds;  permenian  copper,  natural  copper,  and  Navarre 
copper.  But  of  these  three  varieties  he  gives  i^o  ac- 
count whatever ;  though  he  enlarges  a  good  deal  on  the 
qualities  of  copper — not  its  properties,  but  its  sup- 
posed medicinal  action.    It  is  hot  and  dry,  he  says^ 


198  atftTORY  OF  CHEHISTRT^ 

but  in  the  calx  of  it  there  is  humidity.  His  account 
of  the  composition  of  copper  is  the  same  with  that  of 
Geber. 

The  second  chapter  treats  of  lead,  the  third  of  tin^ 
and  in  the  remaining  chapters  he  treats  successively 
of  brass,  iron,  gold,  silver,  marcasite,  sulphuret  of 
antimony,  which  is  distinguished  by  the  name  of 
alcohol;  of  soda,  which  he  says  is  the  juice  of  a  plant 
called  sosa.  And  he  gives  an  unintelligible  process 
by  which  it  is  extracted  from  that  plant,  without  men- 
tioning a  syllable  about  the  combustion  to  which  it  i^r 
obvious  that  it  must  have  been  subjected. 

In  the  twelfth  chapter  he  treats  of  saltpetre,  which, 
he  says,  is  brought  from  Sicily,  from  India,  from 
Egypt,  and  from  Herminia.  He  describes  several 
varieties  of  it,  but  mentions  nothing  about  its  charac- 
teristic property  of  deflagrating  upon  burning  coals*. 
He  then  treats  successively  of  common  salt^  of  sal-gem, 
of  vitriol,  of  sulphur,  of  orpiment,  and  of  sal  ammoniac^ 
which,  he  says,  comes  tfom  Egypt,  from  India^  and 
from  Forperia.  In  the  nineteenth  and  subsequent 
chapters  he  treats  of  aurum  vivum,  of  hair,  of  urine,  rf^ 
eggs,  of  blood,  of  glass,  of  white  linen,  of  horse-dung, 
and  of  vinegar. 

The  sixth  diction,  in  thirty-three  chapters,  treats  of 
the  calcination  of  the  metals,  of  sublimation,  and  of 
some  other  processes.  I  think  it  unnecessary  to  b# 
more  particular,  because  I  cannot  perceive  any  thing 
in  it  that  had  not  been  previously  treated  of  by  Geber." 

The  seventh  diction  treats  of  the  preparation  of 
blood  and  eggs,  and  the  method  of  dividing  them  intd^ 
their  four  elements.  It  treats  also  of  the  elixir  of  silv^^* 
and  the  elixir  of  gold ;  but  it  contains  no  chemical 
fact  of  any  importance. 

The  eighth  diction  treats  of  the  preparation  of  th# 
ferment  of  silver,  and  of  gold.  The  ninth  diction  treats 
of  the  whole  magistery,  and  of  the  nuptials  of  the  MU^ 


CHEiiiiTiiY  0?  mm  AftAmAifs.  \99 

and  moon ;  that  is,  of  gold  and  silver.    The  tenth  dic- 
tion treats  of  weights. 

The  chemical  writings  of  Avicenna  are  of  little 
value,  and  apply  chemistry  rather  to  the  supposed 
medical  qualities  of  the  different  substances  treated  of, 
than  to  the  advancement  of  the  science.  All  the 
chemical  knowledge  which  he  possesses  is  obviously 
drawn  from  Geber.  Geber,  then,  may  be  looked  upon 
as  the  only  chemist  among  the  Arabians  to  whom  we 
are  indebted  for  any  real  improvements  and  new  facts. 
It  is  true  that  the  Arabian  physicians  improved  con- 
siderably the  materia  medica  of  the  Greeks,  and  in- 
troduced many  valuable  medicines  into  common  use 
which  Were  unknown  before  their  time.  It  is  enough 
to  mention  corrosive  sublimate,  manna,  opium,  asa- 
foetida.  It  would  be  difficult  to  make  out  many  of 
liie  vegetable  substances  used  by  the  Arabian  che-» 
mists ;  because  the  plants  which  they  designated  by 
particular  names,  can  very  seldom  be  identified. 
Botany  at  that  time  had  made  so  little  progress,  that 
no  method  was  known  of  describing  plants  so  as  to 
Enable  other  persons  to  determine  what  they  were. 


140  HISTO&T   OF  CH£MI8TaT« 


CHAPTER  IV. 


or  THE  PROGRESS  OF  CHEMISTRY   UNDER  PARACBM 

HIS  DISCIPLES. 

Hitherto  we  have  witnessed  only  the  fin 
beginnings,  or,  as  it  were,  the  early  dawn  of  t 
mical  day.  It  is  from  the  time  of  Paracelsus  1 
true  commencement  of  chemical  investigation*, 
dated.  Not  that  Paracelsus  or  his  followers 
stood  the  nature  of  the  science,  or  undertfl 
regular  or  successful  investigation.  But  Pji 
shook  the  medical  throne  of  Galen  and  Avujt 
its  very  foundation ;  he  roused  the  latent  eiiii 
the  human  mind,  which  had  for  so  long  a  pqq 
torpid ;  he  freed  medical  men  from  those  tw 
and  put  an  end  to  that  despotism  which  had 
for  five  centuries.  He  pointed  out  the  impa^ 
chemical  medicines,  and  of  chemical  investigjijif 
the  physician.  This  led  many  laborious  men , 
their  attention  to  the  subject.  Those  metsjj 
were  considered  as  likely  to  afibrd  useful  m^ 
mercury  for  example,  and  antimony,  were  6jq| 
the  action  of  an  infinite  number  of  reagentS| 
prodigious  collection  of  new  products  obtan( 
introduced  into  medicine.  Some  of  these  wen| 
and  some  worse,  than  the  preparations  fomMj 
ployed  ;  but  all  of  them  led  to  an  increaie 
stock  of  chemical  knowledge,  which  now  tn 
accumulate  with  considerable  rapidity.    It 


C^HIStRT  OF  PARACELSUS.  141 

proper,  therefore,  to  give  a  somewhat  particular  ac« 
<^iint  of  the  life  and  opinions  of  Paracelsus,  so  far  as 
^ey  can  be  made  out  from  his  writings,  because, 
^ough  he  was  not  himself  a  scientific  chemist,  he  may 
be  truly  considered  as  the  man  through  whose  means 
the  stock  of  chemical  knowledge  was  accumulated, 
which  was  afterwards,  by  the  ingenuity  of  Beccher, 
^nd  Stahl,  moulded  into  a  scientific  form. 

Philippus  Aureolus  Theophrastus  Paracelsus  Bom- 
hast  ab  Hohenheim  (as  he  denominates  himself)  was 
hora  at  Einsideln,  two  German  miles  from  Zurich. 
Higfether  was  called  William  Bombast  von  Hohenheim. 
He  was  a  very  near  relation  of  George  Bombast  von 
Hohenheim,  who  became  afterwards  grand  master  of 
the  order  of  Johannites.  William  Bombast  von  Ho- 
henheim practised  medicine  at  Einsideln.*  After 
receiving  the  first  rudiments  of  his  education  in  his 
^ihe  city,  he  became  a  wandering  scholastic,  as  was 
then  the  custom  with  poor  scholars.  He  wandered 
from  province  to  province,  predicting  the  future  by 
the  position  of  the  stars,  and  the  lines  on  the  hand, 
and^xhibiting  all  the  chemical  processes  which  he  had 
leimed  from  founders  and  alchy mists.  For  his  initia- 
tion in  alchymy,  astrology,  and  medicine,  he  was  in- 
debted to  his  father,  who  was  much  devoted  to  these 
three  sciences.  Paracelsus  mentions  also  the  names 
0^  several  ecclesiastics  from  whom  he  received  chemi- 
<^al  information ;  among  others,  Trith^lmius,  abbot  of 
Spanheim;  Bishop  Scheit,  of  Stettbach;  Bishop  Erhart, 
of  Laventall ;  Bishop  Nicolas,  of  Hippon ;  and  Bishop 
Matthew  Schacht.  He  seems  also  to  have  served 
some  years  as  an  army  surgeon,  for  he  mentions  many 
<^res  which  he  performed  in  the  Low  Countries,  in  the 
States  of  the  Church,  in  the  kingdom  of  Naples,  and 
during  the  wars  against  the  Venetians,  the  Danes,  and 
the  Dutch. 

'  *  See  Testamentum  Paracelsi,  passim, ' 


li%  PISTQRT  CF  CHEironTf 

There  is  some  uncertainty  whether  he  received  n 
regular  college  education,  as  was  then  the  prax^tice 
with  all  medical  men.  He  acknowledges  himself  that 
his  medical  antagonists  reproached  him  with  never 
having  frequented  their  schools ;  and  he  is  perpetually 
affirming,  that  a  physician  should  receive  all  hui 
knowledge  from  God,  and  not  from  man.  But  if  we 
can  trust  his  own  assertions,  there  can  he  no  doubt 
that  he  took  a  regular  medical  degree,  which  implies 
a  regular  college  education.  He  tells  us,  in  his  pre- 
face to  his  Chirurgia  Magna,  that  he  visited  the  unis^ 
versities  of  Germany,  France,  and  Italy.  He  assures 
his  readers,  that  he  was  the  ornament  of  the  schools 
where  he  studied.  He  even  speaks  of  the  oath  which 
he  was  obliged  to  take  when  he  received  his  medical 
degree  ;  but  where  he  studied,  or  where  and  when  he 
received  his  medical  degree,  are  questions  which  neiv 
ther  Paracelsus  nor  his  disciples,  nor  his  biographers, 
have  enabled  us  to  solve.  If  he  ever  attended  a 
university,  he  must  have  neglected  his  studies,  other? 
wise  he  could  not  have  been  ignorant,  as  he  confess- 
edly was,-of  the  very  first  elements  of  the  most  common 
kinds  of  knowledge.  But  if  he  neglected  the  univer- 
sities, he  laboured  long  and  assiduously  with  the  rich 
Sigismond  Fuggerus,  of  Schwartz,  in  order  to  leant 
the  true  secret  of  forming  the  philosopher's  stone. 

He  gives  us  some  details  of  the  numerous  journeys 
that  he  made,  as  was  customary  with  the  alchymists 
of  the  time,  into  the  mountains  of  Bohemia,  the  East, 
and  Sweden,  to  inspect  the  mines,  to  get  himself  inif 
tiated  into  the  mysteries  of  the  eastern  adepts,  to 
inspect  the  wonders  of  nature,  and  to  view  the  cele- 
brated diamond  mountain,  the  position  of  which,  how?- 
ever,  he  unfortunately  forgets  to  specify. 

In  the  preface  to  his  Chirurgia  Magna,  he  infomu^ 

us  that  he  traversed  Spain,  Portugal,  England,  Pruft-* 

sia,  Poland,  and  Transylvania;   where  he  not  onlj^ 

profited  by  the  information  of  the  medical  men  wit& 


^bofH  be  became  acquainted,  but  that  he  drew  mueb 
pjrecioitg  iafonxiation  from  old  women,  gipsies,  con<r 
juffQfs,   and  chemists.  *     He  spent  several  years  in 
Hungary;    and  informs  us  that  at  Weissenburg,  in 
Cjcpatia,  and  in  Stockholm,  he  was  taught  by  several 
pld  women  to  prepare  drinks  capable  of  curing  ulcere. 
He  is  said  also  to  have  made  a  voyage  into  Egypt, 
und  even  into  Tartary  ;  and  he  accompanied  the  son 
of  the  Kan  of  the  Tartars  to  Constantinople,  in  order 
t9  learn  the  secret  of  the  philosopher's  stone  fron^ 
Tfismogin,  who  inhabited  that  capital.     This  prodi- 
gious activity,  this  constant  motion  from  place  to  place, 
leit  him  but  little  leisure  for  reading :  accordingly  he 
i^forqcis  us  himself,  that  during  the  space  of  ten  years 
he  never  opened  a  book,  and  that  his  whole  library 
consisted  only  of  six  sheets.     The  inventory  of  his 
hooks,  drawn  up  after  his  death,  confirms  this  recital ; 
for  they  consisted  only  of  the  Bible,  the  Concordance 
to  the  Bible,  the  New  Testament,  and  the  Commenta- 
ries of  St.  Jerome  on  the  Evangelists. 

We  know  not  at  what  period  he  returned  back  to 
Germany;  but  at  the  age  of  thirty-three  the  great 
number  of  fortunate  cures  which  he  had  performed 
rendered  him  an  object  of  admiration  to  the  people, 
aad  of  jealousy  to  the  rival  physicians  of  the  time. 
He  assures  us  that  he  cured  eighteen  princes  whose 
<liseases  had  been  aggravated  by  the  practitioners  de- 
voted to  the  system  of  Galen.  Among  others  he  cured 
I^iiilip,  Margrave  of  Baden,  of  a  dysentery,  who  pro- 
mised him  a  great  reward,  but  did  not  keep  his  pro- 
mise, and  even  treated  him  ia  a  way  unworthy  of  that 

*  **  Hispania,  Portugallia,  Anglia,  Borussia,  Lithuania,  Polouia, 
"annonia,  Valachia,  Transylvania,  Croatia,  Illyrico,  immo  om- 
°^bus  totius  Europae  nationibus  peragratis,  undeque  non  solum 
^M  medicos,  sed  et  chirurgos,  tonsores,  aniculas,  magos,  chy- 
^istas,  nobiles  ac  ignobiles,  optima,  selectiora  ac  secretiora, 

f       y*  uspiam   extarent   remedia,   inquisivi   acriter."—- Pr<^fl/io 

li       ^^^rgifi  MfigwB,  Opwra  F<iracelu,  torn.  iii. 


144  HISTORY  OF  CHEMISTRY. 

prince.  This  cure,  however,  and  others  of  a  similar 
nature,  added  greatly  to  his  celebrity ;  and  in  order 
to  raise  his  reputation  to  the  highest  possible  pitch,  ho, 
announced  publicly  that  he  was  able  to  cure  all  the 
diseases  hitherto  reckoned  incurable ;  and  that  he  had 
discovered  an  elixir,  by  means  of  which  the  life  of 
man  might  be  prolonged  at  pleasure  to  any  extent 
whatever.  He  began  the  practice,  which  has  since 
been  so  successfully  followed  in  this  country,  of  dis- 
pensing medicines  gratuitously  to  the  poor,  in  order  to 
induce  the  rich  to  apply  to  him  for  assistance  when 
they  were  overtaken  with  diseases. 

In  the  year  1526  Paracelsus  was  appointed  pro- 
fessor of  physic  and  surgery  in  the  University  of 
Basil.  This  appointment  was  given  him,  it  is  said, 
by  the  recommendation  of  (Ecolampadius.  He  intro- 
duced the  custom  of  lecturing  in  the  common  lan- 
guage of  the  country,  as  is  at  present  the  universal 
practice :  but  during  the  time  of  Paracelsus,  and  long 
after  indeed,  all  lectures  were  delivered  in  I^itin.  The 
new  method  which  he  followed  in  explaining  the  theory 
and  practice  of  the  art ;  the  numerous  fortunate  cures 
which  he  stated  in  confirmation  of  his  method  of  treat- 
ment ;  the  emphasis  with  which  he  spoke  of  his  secrets 
for  prolonging  life,  and  for  curing  every  kind  of  dis-' 
ease  without  distinction,  but  still  more  his  lecturing  in 
a  language  which  was  understood  by  the  whole  popu-. 
lation,  drew  to  Bslle  an  immense  crowd  of  idle,  enthu- 
siastic, and  credulous  hearers.  .. 

The  lectures  which  he  delivered  on  Practical  Medi;^ 
cine  still  remain,  written  in  a  confused  mixture  oS( 
German  and  barbarous  Latin,  and  containing  little  ot 
nothing  except  a  farrago  of  empirical  remedies,  ad- 
vanced with  the  greatest  confidence.  They  have  a 
much  greater  resemblance  to  a  collection  of  quack 
advertisements  than  to  the  sober  lectures  of  a  pro-t. 
fessor  in  a  university.  In  the  month  of  November^; 
1^26,  he  wrote  to  Christopher  Clauser,  a  physician  M 


; 


CHEMISTRY  OF  PARACELSUS.         145 

Zurich^  that  as  Hippocrates  was  the  first  physician 
tttacmg  the  Greeks,  Avicenna  among  the  Arabians, 
6$len  among  the  Pergamenians,  and  Marsilius  among 
die  Italians,  so  he  was  beyond  dispute  the  greatest 
physician  among  the  Germans.  Every  country  pro- 
4uces  an  illustrious  physician,  whose  medicines  are 
adapted  to  the  climate  in  which  he  lived,  but  not 
suited  to  other  countries.  The  remedies  of  Hippo- 
crates were  good  to  the  Greeks,  but  not  suitable  to 
the  Germans ;  thus  it  was  necessary  that  an  inspired 
physician  should  spring  up  in  every  country,  and  that 
he  was  the  person  destined  to  teach  the  Germans  the 
art  of  curing  all  diseases.  * 

Paracelsus  began  his  professorial  career  by  burning 
publicly,  in  his  class-room,  and  in  the  presence  of  his 
pupils,  the  works  of  Galen  and  Avicenna,  assuring  his 
hearers  that  the  strings  of  his  shoes  possessed  more 
knowledge  than  those  two  celebrated  physicians.  All 
the  universities  united  had  not,  he  assured  them,  as 
luuch  knowledge  as  was  contained  in  his  own  beard, 
and  the  hairs  upon  his  neck  were  better  informed  than 
all  the  writers  that  ever  existed  put  together.  To 
give  the  reader  an  idea  of  the  arrogant  absurdity  of 
Ws  pretensions,  I  shall  translate  a  few  sentences  of  the 
preface  to  his  tract,  entitled  "  Paragranum,"  where  he 
indulges  in  his  usual  strain  of  rodomontade :  **  Me, 
ine  you  shall  follow,  you  Avicenna,  you  Galen,  you 
Rhazes,  you  Montagnana,  you  Mesne.  I  shall  not 
follow  you,  but  you  shall  follow  me.  You,  I  say,  you 
inhabitants  of  Paris,  you  inhabitants  of  Montpelier, 
you  Suevi,  you  Misnians,  you  inhabitants  of  Cologne, 
you  inhabitants  of  Vienna ;  all  you  whom  the  Rhine 
and  the  Danube  nourish,  you  who  inhabit  the  islands 

,  *  See  the'  dedication  to  his  treatise  De  Gradibus  et  CompO" 
^wiubus  Receptorum  et  Naturalium,  Opera  Paracelsi,  vol.  ii. 
P*  144.  I  always  refer  to  the  folio  edition  of  Paracelsus's  works, 
^  three  volumes,  published  at  Genera  in  1658,  by  M,  de  Tqu£« 
&es,  which  is  the  edition  iii  xn/ possession.  ^ 
VOL,  J.  L 


146  filSTOKY  Of  CH£MI8¥&T# 

of  the  sea;  you  also  Italy,  you  Dalmatia,  you  Athens^ 
you  Greek,  you  Arabian,  you -Israelite — I  shall  not 
follow  you,  but  you  shall  follow  me.  Nor  shall  any 
one  lurk  in  the  darkest  and  most  remote  comer  whom 
the  dogs  shall  not  piss  upon.  I  shall  be  the  monarch, 
the  monarchy  shall  be  mine.  If  I  administer,  and  I 
bind  up  yoiu:  loins,  is  he  with  whom  you  are  at  present 
delighted  a  Cacophrastus  ?  This  ordure  must  be  eaten 
by  you." 

"  What  will  your  opinion  be  when  you  see  youf 
Cacophrastus  constituted  the  chief  of  the  monarchy  ? 
What  will  you  think  when  you  see  the  sect  of  Theo* 
phrastus  leading  on  a  solemn  triumph,  if  I  make  yon 
pass  under  the  yoke  of  my  philosophy  ?  your  Pliny 
will  you  call  Cacopliny,  and  your  Aristotle,  Caco« 
aristotle  ?  If  I  plunge  them  together  with  your  Por-^ 
phyry,  Albertus,  &c.,  and  the  whole  of  their  com-* 
patriots  into  my  necessary .^^  But  the  terms  become  ^ 
now  so  coarse  and  indelicate,  that  I  cannot  bring  "y 
myself  to  proceed  further  with  the  translation.  Enough 
has  been  given  to  show  the  extreme  arrogance  and 
folly  of  Paracelsus. 

So  far,  however,  was  this  impudence  and  grossness 
from  injuring  the  interest  of  Paracelsus,  that  we  are 
assured  by  Ramus  and  Urstisius  that  it  contributed  still 
further  to  increase  it.    The  coarseness  of  his  language 
was  well  suited  to  the  vulgarity  of  the  age ;  and  his  ar* 
rogance  and  boasting  were  considered,  as  usual,  as  e 
proof  of  superior  merit.    The  cure  which  he  performed 
on  Frobenius,  drew  the  attention  of  Erasmus  himself^  - 
who  consulted  him  about  the  diseases  with  which  hc^ 
was  afflicted ;    and  the  letters  that  passed  betweem 
them  are  still  preserved.     The  epistle  of  Paracelsus  i* 
short,  enigmatical,  and  unintelligible ;    that  of  Eras- 
mus is  distinguished  by  that  clearness  and  el^ance 
which  characterize  his  writings.*    But  Frobenius  died 

^  Opera  Paracelsii  i.  486«' 


l 


CmMIST&T  01^  I^A&4C£LSVS«  147 

in  the  mentb  of  Octo|>er»  1527,  and  the  antagonists 
of  Paracelsus  attributed  his  death  (and  probably  with 
justice)  to  the  violent  remedies  which  had  been  ad- 
ministered to  a  man  whose  constitution  had  been 
destroyed  by  the  gout. 

His  death  contributed  not  a  little  to  tarnish  the 
g)(»ry  of  Paracelsus:   but  he  suffered  the  greatest 
injury  from  the  habits  of  intoxication  in  which  he  in- 
dulged, and  from  the  vulgarity  of  the  way  in  which 
he  spent  his  time.      He  hardly  ever  went  into  his 
class-room  to   deliver  a  lecture  till  he  was  half  in- 
toxicated, and  scarcely  ever  dictated  to  his  secretaries 
till  he  had  lost  the  use  of  his  reason  by  a  too  liberal 
indulgence  in  wine.     If  he  was  summoned  to  visit  a 
patient,  he  scarcely  ever  went  but  in  a  state  of  in- 
toxication.    Not  unfrequently  he  passed  the  whole 
night  in  the  alehouse,  in  the  company  of  peasants,  and 
^hen  morning  came,  was  quite  incapable  of  perform- 
ing the  duties  of  his  station.     On  one  occasion,  after 
&  debauch,  which  lasted  the  whole  night,  he  was  called 
next  morning  to  visit  a  patient ;  on  entering  tbe  room, 
^^  inquired  if  the  sick  person  had  taken  any  thing : 
**  Nothing,"  was  the  answer,  "  except  the  body  of  our 
I^rd."  "  Since  you  have  already,"  says  he,  *'  provided 
yourself  with  another  physician,  my  presence  here  is  un- 
necessary," and  he  left  the  apartment  instantly.  When 
Albertus  Basa,  physician  to  the  king  of  Poland,  visited 
Paracelsus  in  the  city  of  Basle,  he  carried  him  to  see 
^  patient  whose  strength  was  completely  exhausted, 
^d  which,  in  his  opinion,  it  was  impossible  to  restore ; 
but  Paracelsus,  wishing  to  make  a  parade  of  his  skill, 
administered  to  him  three  drops  of  his  laudanum,  and 
invited  him  to  dine  with  him  next  day.  *     The  invita- 

*  There  were  two  laudanums  of  Paracelsus;  one  was  red 
wnde  of  mercury  f  the  other  consisted  of  the  following  substances  s 
Chloride  of  antimony,  1  ounce;  hepatic  aloes,  1  ounce; 
rose-water,  i  ounce  ;  naSron,  3  ounces  i  ambergris,  2  drams. 
Mi  these  weU  mixed. 

L  2 


J  48  HISTOEY   OF  CHEMISTRY. 

tion  was  accepted,  and  the  sick  man  dined  next  daj 
with  his  physician. 

Towanls  the  end  of  the  year  1527  a  disgraceful 
dispute  into  which  he  entered  brought  his  career,  as 
a  professor,  to  a  sudden  termination.  *  The  canon 
Cornelius,  of  Lichtenfels,  who  had  been  long  a. martyr 
to  the  gout,  employed  him  as  his  physician,  and  pro- 
mised him  one  hundred  florins  if  he  could  cure  him. 
Paracelsus  made  him  take  three  pills  of  laudanum, 
and  having  thus  freed  him  from  pain,  demanded  the 
sum  agreed  upon ;  but  Lichtenfels  refused  to  pay  him 
the  whole  of  it.  Paracelsus  summoned  him  before 
the  court,  and  the  magistrate  of  Basle  decided  thai 
the  canon  was  bound  to  pay  only  the  regular  price  of 
the  medicine  administered.  Irritated  at  this  decision, 
our  intoxicated  professor  uttered  a  most  violent  in- 
vective against  the  magistrate,  who  threatened  to 
punish  him  for  his  outrageous  conduct.  His  friends 
advised  him  to  save  himself  by  flight.  He  took  their 
advice,  and  thus  abdicated  his  professorship.  But,  by 
this  time,  his  celebrity  as  a  teacher  had  been  so  com- 
pletely destroyed  by  his  foolish  and  immoral  conduct, 
that  he  had  lost  all  his  hearers.  In  consequence  of 
this  state  of  things,  his  flight  from  Basle  produced  no 
sensation  whatever  in  that  university. 

Paracelsus  betook  himself,  in  the  first  place,  tQfc 
Alsace,  and  sent  for  his  faithful  follower,  the  book*^ 
seller,  Operinus,  together  with  the  whole  of  his  che-% 
mical  apparatus.  In  1528  we  find  him  at  Colmarj^ 
where  he  recommenced  his  ambulating  life  of  a  theOn 
sophist,  which  he  had  led  during  his  youth.  His  boolC; 
upon  syphilis,  known  at  that  time  by  the  name  of 
Morbus  Gallicus,  was  dedicated  at  Colmar,  to  the  chie|- 
magistrate  of  Colmar,  Hieronymus  Bpnerus.*  In  152lif 
he  was  at  Saint-Grallen  ;  in  1535,  at  Pfefiersbade,  ami 
in  1536,  at  Augsburg,  where  he  dedicated  his  Chirur- 

^  Opera  Paracclsii  iii.  101. 


-.   .:) 


CHEMISTRY  OF   PARACELSUS.  149 

gia  Magna  to  Malhausen.  At  the  request  of  John  de 
Leippa,  Marshal  of  Bohemia,  he  undertook  a  journey 
into  Moravia ;  as  that  nobleman,  having  been  informed 
thM  Paracelsus  understood  the  method  of  curing  the 
gout  radically,  was  anxious  to  put  himself  under  his 
ei&re.  Paracelsus  lived  for  a  long  time  at  Kroman, 
^U^  its.  environs.  John  de  Leippa,  instead  of  receiv- 
ing any  benefit  from  the  medicines  administered  to 
hlfti,  became  daily  worse,  and  at  last  died.  This  was 
the  fate  also  of  the  lady  of  Zerotin,  in  whom  the 
tvmedies  of  Paracelsus  produced  no  fewer  than  twenty- 
four  epileptic  fits  in  one  day.  Paracelsus,  instead  of 
waiting  the  disgrace  with  which  the  death  of  this  lady 
would  have  overwhelmed  him,  announced  his  intention 
of  going  to  Vienna,  that  he  might  see  how  they  would 
treat  him  in  that  capital. 

It  is  said,  that  from  Vienna  he  went  into  Hungary ; 
but  in  1538,  we  find  him  in  Villach,  where  he  dedi- 
cated his  Chronica  et  Origo  Carinthise  to  the  states  of 
Carinthia.*  His  book,  De  Natura  Rerum,  had  been 
dedicated  to  Winkelstein,  and  the  dedication  is  dated 
also  at  Villach,  in  the  year  1537.t  In  1540  he  was 
at  Mindelheim,  and  in  1541,  at  Strasburg,  where  he 
died,  in  St.  Stephen's  hospital,  in  the  forty-eiglith 
year  of  his  age. 

To  form  an  accurate  idea  of  this  most  extraordinary 
man,  we  must  attend  to  his  habits,  and  to  the  situa- 
tion in  which  he  was  placed.  He  had  acquired  such 
a  habit  of  moving  about,  that  he  assures  us  himself  he 
Ibund  it  impossible  for  him  to  continue  for  any  length 
of  time  in  one  place.  He  was  always  surrounded  by 
a  number  of  followers,  whom  neither  his  habits  of  in- 
toxication, nor  the  foolish  and  immoral  conduct  in 
which  he  was  accustomed  to  indulge,  could  induce 
to  forsake  him.  •  The  most  celebrated  of  these  was 
Operinus,  a  printer  at  Basle,  on  whom   Paracelsus 

*  Opera  Paracelsi,  i.  243.  f  Ibid.,  ii.  84. 


150  HifttORT  O^  CdEUlSTAI^. 

lavishes  the  most  excessive  praises,  in  his  book  De 
Morbo  Clallico.  But  Operinus  loaded  his  master  with 
obloquy,  being  provoked  at  him  because  he  had  not 
made  him  acquainted  with  the  secret  of  the  philoso*^ 
pher's  stone,  as  he  had  promised  to  do.  We  must 
therefore  be  cautious  in  believing  the  stories  that  he 
relates  to  the  discredit  of  his  master.  We  know  the 
names  of  two  others  of  his  followers;  Francis,  who 
assures  us  that  Paracelsus  was  devoted  to  the  trans- 
mutation of  metals;  and  George  Vetter,  who  con- 
sidered him  as  a  magician ;  as  was  the  opinion  also  of 
Operinus.  Paracelsus  himself,  speaks  of  Dr.  Corne- 
lius, whom  he  calls  his  secretary,  and  in  honour  of 
whom  he  wrote  several  of  his  libels.  Other  libels  are 
dedicated  to  Doctors  Peter,  Andrew,  and  Ursinus,  to 
the  licentiate  Pancrace,  and  to  Mr.  Raphael.  On 
this  occasion  he  complains  bitterly  of  the  infidelity  of 
his  servants,  who,  he  says,  had  succeeded  in  stealing 
from  him  several  of  his  secrets ;  and  had  by  this  means 
befen  enabled  to  establish  their  reputation.  He  accuses 
equally  the  barbers  and  bathers  that  followed  him,  and 
is  no  less  severe  upon  the  physicians  of  every  country 
through  which  he  travelled. 

When  we  attempt  to  form  an  accurate  conception  of 
the  medical  and  philosophical  opinions  of  this  singular 
man,  we  find  ourselves  beset  with  almost  insurmount- 
able difficulties.  His  statements  are  so  much  at 
variance  with  each  other,  in  his  different  pieces,  and 
so  much  confusion  reigns  with  respect  to  the  order  of 
publication,  that  we  know  not  what  to  fix  on  as  his  last 
and  maturest  opinions.  His  style  is  execrable ;  filled 
with  new  words  of  his  own  coining,  and  of  mysticismi 
either  introduced  to  excite  the  admiration  of  the  igno«* 
rant,  or  from  the  fanaticism  and  credulity  of  the 
writer,  who  was  undoubtedly,  to  a  considerable  extent, 
the  dupe  of  his  own  impostures.  That  he  was  in  poB« 
session  of  the  philosopher*s  stone,  or  of  a  medicine 
capable  of  prolonging  life  to  ati  indefinite  len^h,  at 


CHEMISTRY   OF  PARACZLiUS.  161 

he  all  along  asserted,  he  could  not  himself  believe ; 
but  he  had  boasted  so  long  and  so  loudly  of  his  won- 
derful cures,  and  of  the  efficacy  of  his  medicines,  that 
there  can  be  no  doubt  that  he  ultimately  placed  im- 
plicit faith  in  them.  The  blunders  of  the  transcribers 
whom  he  employed  to  copy  his  works,  may  perhaps 
account  for  some  of  the  contradictions  which  they 
contain.  But  how  can  we  look  for  a  regular  system 
of  opinions  from  a  man  who  generally  dictated  his 
ivork^  when  in  a  state  of  intoxication,  and  thus  laboured 
under  an  almost  constant  deprivation  of  reason. 

His  obscurity  was  partly  the  efifect  of  design,  and 
DO  doubt  was  intended  to  exalt  the  notions  entertained 
of  his  profundity.  He  uses  common  words  in  new 
significations,  without  giving  any  indication  of  the 
change  which  he  introduced.  Thus  anatomy,  in  the 
ifvritings  of  Paracelsus,  signifies  not  the  dissection  of 
dead  animals  to  determine  their  structure,  but  it 
means  the  nature,  force,  and  magical  designation  of 
a  thing.  And  as,  according  to  the  Platonic  and 
Cabalistic  theory,  every  earthly  body  is  formed  after 
the  model  of  a  heavenly  body,  Paracelsus  calls  ana^ 
tomy  the  knowledge  of  that  model,  of  that  ideal,  or  of 
that  paradigm  after  which  all  things  are  create4.  He 
terms  the  fundamental  force  of  a  thing  a  star,  stnd 
defines  alchymy  the  art  of  drawing  out  the  stars  of 
metals.  The  star  is  the  source  of  all  knowledge. 
When  we  eat,  we  introduce  into  our  bodies  the  star^ 
which  is  then  modified,  and  favours  nutrition. 

It  is  probable  that  many  of  his  obscure  and  unin- 
telligible expressions  are  the  fruit  of  ignorance.  Thus 
he  uses  the  term  pagoyus,  instead  of  paganus.  He 
gives  the  name  o^pagoyce  to  the  four  entities,  or  causes 
of  diseases,  founded  on  the  influence  of  the  stars,  to 
the  elementary  qualities ;  to  the  occult  qualities,  and 
to  the  influence  of  spirits;  because  these  had  been 
already  admitted  by  the  Pagans.  But  the  fifth  entity, 
or  cause  of  disease,  which  has  God  immediately  for 


152  HX8T0&T   OF  CHEMISTRY. 

its  author,  is  nan  pagoya.  The  undimia  of  Patacetetit 
is  our  cedema ;  only  he  applies  the  name  to  every  kind 
of  dropsy.  The  Latin  word  tonitru,  we  find  is  declined 
by  Paracelsus.  Thus  he  says,  lapis  tanitrui.  The 
well-known  line  of  Ovid, 

Tollere  nodosam  nescit  medicina  podagram,    ^ 

He  travestied  into 

Nescit  tartaream  Roades  curare  podagram.* 

Roades,  he  says,  means  medicines  for  horses;  and 
if  any  person  wishes  a  more  elegant  verse,  he  may 
make  it  for  himself. f  He  employs,  also,  a  great  num- 
ber of  words  to  which  no  meaning  whatever  can  be 
attached ;  and  to  which,  in  all  probability,  he  himself 
had  affixed  none. 

As  is  the  case  with  all  fanatics,  he  treated  with  con- 
tempt every  kind  of  knowledge  acquired  by  labour 
and  application ;  and  boasted  that  his  wisdom  was 
communicated  to  him  directly  by  God  Almighty.  The 
theosophist  who  is  worthy  of  partaking  of  the  divine 
light,  has  no  occasion  for  adopting  a  positive  religion, 
nor  of  subjecting  himself  to  any  kind  of  religious  cere- 
mony. The  divine  light  within,  which  assimilates  him 
to  the  Deity,  more  than  compensates  for  all  these  vulgar 
usages,  and  raises  the  illuminated  votary  far  above  the 
beggarly  elements  of  external  worship.  Accordingly, 
Paracelsus  has  been  accused  of  treating  the  public 
worship  of  the  Deity  with  contempt.  Not  satisfied 
with  the  plain  sense  of  the  book,  he  attempted  to  ex^ 
plain  in  a  mystical  manner  the  words  and  syllables  of 
the  Bible.  He  accused  Luther  of  not  going  far  enoughi; 
"  Luther,**  says  he,  "  is  not  worthy  of  untying  the 
strings  of  my  shoes :  should  I  undertake  a  reformatioQ^ 
I  would  begin  by  sending  the  pope  and  the  reformeni 
themselves  to  school."    Grod,  says  Paracelsus,  is  thtf 

*  Opera  Paracelsi,  i.  328.  ' 

t  "Qui  elegantioremoptat,  Hie  enm  condat."— iM. )       -^ 


CBSirontT  OF  FA&ACELSUS.  153 

and  most  ezceUent  of  writers.    The  Holy  Scrip- 
^  tue  ooodttcU  us  to  all  truth,  and  teaches  us  all 
tUnga.     But  medicine,  philosophy,  and  astronomy, 
are  among  the  numher  of.  things.    Therefore,  when  we 
want  to  know  what  magical  medicine  is,  we  must  con- 
salt  the  Apocalypse.    The  Bible,  with  its  paraphrases, 
is  the  key  to  the  theory  of  diseases.     It  puts  it  in  our 
power  to  understand  St.  John,  who,  like  Daniel,  £ze« 
kiel,  Moses,  &c.,  was  a  magician,  a  cabalist,  a  diviner. 
13ie  first  duty  of  a  phpician  is  to  study  the  Cabala, 
without  which  he  must  every  moment  commit  a  thou- 
sand blunders.     '*  Learn,''  says  he,  ''  the  cabalistic 
art,  which  includes  under  it  all  the  others.'*     '*  Man 
invaits  nothing,  the  devil  invents  nothing ;  it  is  God 
alone  who  unveils  to  us  the  light  of  nature.''     '*  God 
honoured  at  first  with  his  illumination  the  blind  pagans, 
Apollo,  ^sculapius,  Machaon,  Podalirius,  and  Hippo- 
cnrates,  and  imparted  to  them  the  genius  of  medicine ; 
their  successors  were  the  sophists."     One  would  sup- 
pose, from  this  passage,  that  Paracelsus  had  read  and 
studied  Hippocrates,  and  that  he  held  him  in  high  es- 
timation.    But  the  commentaries  which  he  has  left  on 
some  of  the  aphorisms,  show  evidently  that  he  did 
not  even   understand  the  Greek   physician.     ^'  The 
compassion  of  God,"  says  he,  *'  is  the  only  foundation 
of  medical  science,  and  not  a  knowledge  of  the  great 
masters,  or  of  the  writings  which  they  have  left  in  Greek 
and  Latin."     "  God  often  acts  in  dreams  by  the  light 
of  nature,  and  points  out  to  man  the  manner  of  curing 
diseases."     "  This  knowledge  renders  all  those  objects 
visible  which  would  otherwise  escape  the  sight;  and 
when  faith  is  joined  with  it,  nothing  is  then  impossible 
to  the  theosophist,  who  may  transport  the  ocean  to 
the  top  of  Mount  ^tna,  and  Olympus  into  the  Red 
Sea."     Paracelsus  predicts  that  by  the  year  1590 
Christian  theosophy  would  be  generally  spread  over 
the  world,  and  that  the  Galenical  schools  would  be 
almost  or  entirely  overthrown. 


154  BISTOET  OF  CHZMX8TET. 

We  find  in  Paracelsus  some  traces  of  the  Opinions 
of  the  Gnostics  and  Arians,  who  considered  Christ  as 
the  first  emanation  of  the  Deity.  He  calls  the  first 
man  parens  hominis;  and  makes  all  spirits  emanate 
from  him.  He  is  the  limhus  minor y  or  the  last  crea« 
ture,  into  whom  enters  the  great  limbus,  or  the  seed. 
of  all  the  creatures,  the  infinite  being.  All  the  sci« 
ences,  and  all  the  arts  of  man,  are  derived  from  this, 
great  limbus;  and  he  who  can  sink  himself  in  the  little 
limhus,  that  is  to  say,  in  Adam,  and  who  can  commu- 
nicate by  faith  with  Jesus  Christ,  may  invoke  all 
spirits.  Those  who  owe  their  science  to  this  limhus^ 
are  the  best  informed ;  those  who  derive  it  from  the 
stars,  occupy  the  last  rank  ;  and  those  who  owe  it  to 
the  light  of  nature,  are  intermediate  between  the  pre- 
ceding. Jesus  Christ,  in  his  capacity  of  limhus  minor 
and  first  man,  being  always  an  emanation  of  the  Di* 
vinity ;  and,  consequently,  a  subordinate  personage^ 
These  ideas  explain  to  us  why  Paracelsus  passed  for 
an  Arian,  and  was  supposed  not  to  believe  in  the  Di-» 
vinity  of  Jesus  Christ.  He  was  of  opinion  that  the 
faithful  performed  miracles,  and  operated  magical 
cures  by  their  simple  confidence  in  God  the  Father^ 
and  not  by  their  faith  in  Christ;  but  he  adds,  however, 
that  we  ought  to  pray  to  Jesus,  in  order  to  obtain  his 
intercession. 

From  the  preceding  attempt  to  explain  the  opinions 
of  Paracelsus,  it  will  be  evident  to  the  reader  that  he 
was  both  a  fanatic  and  impostor,  and  that  his  theory 
(if  such  a  name  can  be  given  to  the  reveries  of  ik 
drunkard),  consisted  in  uniting  medicine  with  the  doo' 
trines  of  the  Cabala.  A  few  more  observations  will 
be  necessary  to  develop  his  dogmas  still  further. 

Every  body,  in  his  opinion,  and  man  in  particu- 
lar, is  double,  consisting  of  a  material  and  spiritual 
substance.*    The  spiritual,  which  may  be  called  thd 

f 
*  Arcbidoxorum,  lib,  L  Opera  Paracdsiy  ii,  4(  ^ 


CHEMISTAT  OF  PARACELSUS.  155 

mieric,  results  from  the  celestial  influences ;  and  we 
may  trace  after  it  a  figure  capable  of  producing  all 
kinds  of  magical  effects.  When  we  can  act  upon  the 
body  itself,  we  act  at  the  same  time  upon  the  spiritual 
form  by  characters  and  conjurations.*  Yet,  in  another 
passage,  he  blames  all  magical  ceremonies,  and  as- 
cribes them  to  want  of  faith.  The  celestial  intelli- 
.gences  impress  upon  material  bodies  certain  signs, 
which  manifest  their  influence.  The  perfection  of 
art-  consists  in  understanding  the  meaning  of  these 
lugns,  and  in  determining  from  them  the  nature,  quali- 
ties, and  essence  of  a  body.  Adam,  the  first  man, 
had  a  perfect  knowledge  of  the  Cabala;  he  could  inter- 
pret the  signatures  of  all  things.  It  was  this  which 
enabled  him  to  assign  to  the  animals  names  which 
suited  them  best.  A  man  who  renounces  all  sensuality, 
and  is  blindly  obedient  to  the  will  of  God,  is  capable 
of  taking  a  share  in  the  actions  which  celestial  intel- 
ligences perform ;  and  consequently  is  possessed  of 
the  philosopher's  stone.  Never  does  he  want  any 
thing ;  all  creatures  in  earth  and  in  heaven  are  obe-» 
xiient  to  him ;  he  can  cure  all  diseases,  and  prolong 
his  life  as  long  as  he  pleases ;  because  he  possesses 
the  tincture  which  Adam  and  the  patriarch's  before 
the  flood  employed  to  prolong  the  term  of  their  exist- 
cnce.f  Beelzebub,  the  chief  of  the  demons,  is  also 
subject  to  the  power  of  magic  :  and  who  can  blame 
the  theosophist  for  believing  in  the  devil  ?  He  ought,* 
however,  to  take  care  to  prevent  this  malignant  spirit 
from  commanding  him.  Paracelsus  was  often  wont 
to  say,  "  If  God  does  not  aid  me,  the  devil  will  help 
me." 


*  De  longa  Vita.    Opera  Paracelsi,  ii.  46. 

f  Archidoxoram/  lib.  riii.  Opera  Paracelsi,  ii.  29.  In  this 
book  he  gives  the  method  of  preparing  the  elixir  of  life.  It  seems 
to  have  been  nothing  else  than  a  solution  of  common  talt  in  water ; 
for  the  quintessence  of  gold,  with  which  this  solution  was  to  be 
mixed,  was  doubtless  an  imaginary  substance. 


156  HISTOEY   OF   CHEMISTRY, 

Pantheism  was  one  of  the  principal  dogmas  of  the 
Cabala;  and  Paracelsus  adopts  it  in  all  its  grossness; 
He  affirms  perpetually  that  every  thing  is  animated  iii 
the  universe;  that  every  thing  which  exists,  eats, 
drinks,  and  voids  excrements:  even  minerals  and 
liquids  take  food  and  void  the  digested  remains  of 
their  nourishment.*  This  opinion  leads  necessarily  to 
the  admission  of  a  great  number  of  spiritual  substances; 
intermediate  between  material  and  immaterial  in  every 
part  of  the  sublunary  world,  in  water,  air,  earth,  ana 
tire ;  who,  as  well  as  man,  eat,  drink,  converse,  beget 
children ;  but  which  approach  pure  spirits  in  this,  that 
they  are  more  transparent,  and  infinitely  more  agile^ 
than  *all  other  animal  bodies.  Man  possesses  a  sottf^ 
of  which  these  pure  spirits  are  destitute.  Hence  it 
happens  that  these  spiritual  substances  are  at  once 
body  and  spirit  without  a  soul.  When  they  die  (for 
like  the  human  race  they  are  subject  to  death),  no, 
soul  remains.  Like  us  they  are  exposed  to  diseases! 
Their  names  vary  according  to  the  places  that  they 
occupy.  When  they  inhabit  the  air,  they  are  called 
sylphs;  when  the  water,  nymphs;  when  the  earA!/ 
pigmies;  when  the  fire,  salamanders, f  The  inha^ 
bitants  of  the  waters  are  also  called  undinte,  and  thomi 
of  the  fire  vulcanu  The  sylphs  approach  nearest  ttf, 
our  nature,  as  they  live  in  the  air  like  us.  The  sylp! 
nymphs,  and  pigmies,  sometimes  obtain  permissi 
from  God  to  make  themselves  visible,  to  convei 
with  men,  to  indulge  in  carnal  pleasures,  and  to  pid^ 
duce  children.  But  the  salamanders  have  no  relatitiff' 
to  man.  These  spiritual  beings  are  acquainted  wlff 
the  future,  and  capable  of  revealing  it  to  man.  TfaMlf 
appear  under  the  form  of  ignesfatui.     We  have  anv 

.Ml 

*  Modus  Pharmacandi.    Opera  Paracelsi,  i.  811.  --  .  ' 

f  Liber  de  Nymphis,  Sylphis,  Pygmsis,  et  Salamandrui,  0t  itf ' 
ceteris  Spiritibns.    Opera  Paracelsi,  ii.  388.    If  the  reader^ 
understand  this  sing^ular  book,  his  sagacity  will  be  greater  t|M 
mine.  .^ 


) 


CHEIIISTEY   OF   PARACELSUS.  157 

the  history  of  die  fairies  and  the  giants ;  and  are  told 
how  these  spiritual  beings  are  the  guardians  of  con- 
ceited treasures ;  and  how  these  sylphs,  nymphs,  pig- 
lodes,  and  salamanders,  may  be  charmed,  and  their 
tresLsures  taken  from  them. 

This  division  of  man  into  body  and  spirit,  and  of 
the  things  of  nature  into  visible  and  invisible,  has  in 
jjl  ages  of  the  world,  been  adopted  by  fanatics,  be- 
eause  it  enabled  them  to  explain  the  history  of  ghosts, 
a^id  a  thousand  similar  prejudices.  Hence  the  dis- 
tinction between  soul  and  spirit,  which  is  so  very  an- 
cient; and  hence  the  three  following  harmonies  to 
which  the  successors  of  Paracelsus  paid  a  particular 
attention : 

Soul,  Spirit^       Body, 

Mercury,    Sulphur,   Salt, 

Water,        Air,  Earth, 

The  will  and  the  imagination  of  man  acts  principally 
by  means  of  the  spirit.  Hence  the  reason  of  the 
eflfcacy  of  sorcery  and  magic.  The  tubvI  matemi  are 
the  impressions  of  these  vice-men,  and  Paracelsus 
calls  them  cocomica  signa.  The  sideric  body  of  man 
draws  to  him,  by  imagination,  all  that  surrounds  him, 
and  particularly  the  stars,  on  which  it  acts  like  a  mag- 
net. In  this  manner,  women  with  child,  and  during 
the  regular  period  of  monthly  evacuation,  having  a 
diseased  imagination,  are  not  only  capable  of  poison- 
ing a  mirror  by  their  breath,  but  of  injuring  the  in- 
fants in  their  wombs,  and  even  also  of  poisoning  the 
moon.  But  it  seems  needless  to  continue  this  dis- 
agreeable detaD  of  the  absurd  and  ridiculous  opinions 
which  Paracelsus  has  consigned  to  us  in  his  different 
tracts. 

The  Physiology  of  Paracelsus  (if  such  a  name  can 
he  applied  to  his  reveries). is  nothing  else  than  an  ap- 
plication of  the  laws  of  the  Cabala  to  the  explanation 
of  the  functions  of  the  body.  There  exists,  he  assvix^^ 
us,  an  intimate  connexion  between  the  sun  'dad  \5ftfe 


168  RIStORY  OF  CHEMISTRY. 

heart,  the  moon  and  the  brain,  Jupiter  and  the  liver, 
Saturn  and  the  spleen.  Mercury  and  the  lungs,  Mars 
and  the  bile,  Venus  and  the  kidneys.     In  another 
part  of  his  works,  he  informs  us  that  the  sun  acts  on 
the  umbilicus  and  the  middle  parts  of  the  abdomen^^ 
the  moon  on  the  spine,  Mercury  on  the  bowels,  Venus 
on  the  organs  of  generation.  Mars  on  the  face,  Jupi- 
ter on  the  head,  and  Saturn  on  the  extremities.     The 
pulse  is  nothing  else  than  the  measure  of  the  tempe-* 
rature  of  the  body,  according  to  the  space  of  the  six 
places  which  are  in  relation  to  the  planets.  Two  pulses 
under  the  sole  of  the  feet  belong  to  Saturn  and  Jupi- 
ter, two  at  the  elbow  to  Mars  and  Venus,  two  in  the 
temples  to  the  moon  and  mercury.     The  pulse  of  the 
sun  is  found  under  the  heart.     The  macrocosm  has 
also  seven  pulses,  which  are  the  revolutions  of  the 
seven  planets,  and  the  irregularity  or  intermittence  of 
these  pulses,  is  represented  by  the  eclipses.  The  moon 
and  Saturn  are  charged  in  the  macrocosm  with  thick- 
ening the  water,  which  causes  it  to  congeal.     In  like 
manner  the  moon  of  the  microcosm,  that  is  to  say  the 
brain,  coagulates  the  blood.     Hence  melancholy  per^ 
sons,  whom   Paracelsus  calls  lunatics,  have  a  thick 
blood.     We  ought  not  to  say  of  a  man  that  •  he  has 
such  and  such  a  complexion;    but  that  it  is  Mars, 
Venus,   &c.,  so  that  a  physician  ought  to  know  the 
planets  of  the   microcosm,  the  arctic  and  antarctic 
pole,  the  meridian,  the  zodiac,  the  east  and  the  west, 
before  trying  to  explain  the  functions  or  cure  the  dis- 
eases.*    This  knowledge  is  acquired  by  a**  continual 
comparison  of  the  macrocosm  with  the    microcosm. 
What  must  have  been  the  state  of  medicine  at  the 
time  when  Paracelsus  wrote,  when  the  propagator  of 


*  Paragrani  Alterius,  tract,  ii.  Opera  Paracelsi,  i.  235.  The 
reader  who  has  the  curiosity  to  consult  this  tract,  will  find 
abundance  of  similar  stuff,  which  I  did  not  think  worth  trans* 
iating. 


«  « 


V' 


CHlXIStET  Ot  9ARACS18VS«  159 

SQcti  opinions  could  be  reckoned  one  of  the  greatest 
of 'its  reformers? 

The  system  of  Galen  had  for  its  principal  basis  the 
doctrine  of  the  four  elements,  JirCy  air,  watery  and 
earth,      Paracelsus  neglected  these   elements,    and 
multiplied  the  substances  of  the  disease  itself.     He 
admits,   strictly  speaking,   three  or    four  elements ; 
namely,  the  star,  the  root,  the  element,  the  spermy 
which  he  distinguishes  by  the  name  of  the  true  seed. 
All  these  elements  were  originally  confounded  together 
in  the  chaos  or  yliados.    The  star  is  the  active  force 
which  gives  form  to  matter.     The  stars  are  reasonable 
beings  addicted  to  sodomy  and  adultery,  like  other 
creatures.     Each  of  them  draws  at  pleasure  out  of 
the  chaoSy  the  plant  and  the  metal  to  which  it  has 
an  affinity,  and  gives  a  sideric  form   to  their  root* 
There  are  two  kinds  of  seed ;  the  sperm  is  the  vehicle 
of  the  true  seed.     It  is  engendered  by  speculation,  by 
imagination,  by  the  power  of  the  star.    The  occult,  in- 
visible, sideric  body  produces  the  true  seed,  and  the 
Adamic  man  secretes  only  the  visible  envelope  of  it. 
Putrefaction  cannot  give  birth  to  a  new  body :    the 
seed  must  pre-exist,  and  it  is  developed  during  putre- 
faction by  the  power  of  the  stars.     The  generation  of 
animals  is  produced  by  the  concourse  of  the  infinite 
number  of  seeds  which  detach  themselves  from  all 
parts  of  the  body.     Thus  the  seed  of  the  nose  repro- 
duces a  nose,  that  of  the  eye  the  eye,  and  so  on. 

With  respect  to  the  elements  themselves,  Paracelsus 
admits  occasionally  their  influence  on  the  functions  of 
the  body,  and  the  theory  of  diseases  ;  but  he  deduces 
the  faculties  which  they  possess  from  the  stars.  It 
was  he  that  first  shook  the  doctrine  of  the  four  ele- 
ments, originally  contrived  by  Empedocles.  Alchymy 
had  introduced  another  set  of  elements,  and  the  al- 
chymists  maintained  that  salt,  sulphur,  and  mercury, 
were  the  true  elements  of  things.  Paracelsus  endea- 
voured to  reconcile  these  chemical  elements  with  hift 


160  HISTORY   OF  CHEMISTRY.  . 

cabalistic  ideas,  and  to  show  more  clearly  their  utility: 
in  the  theory  of  medicine.  He  invented  a  sideric 
salty  which  can  only  be  perceived  by  the  exqnisite 
senses  of  a  theosophist,  elevated  by  the  abnegation  of 
all  gross  sensuality  to  a  level  with  pure  and  spiritual 
demons.  This  salt  is  the  cause  of  the  consistence  of 
bodies,  and  it  is  it  which  gives  them  the  faculty  of 
being  reproduced  from  their  ashes. 

Paracelsus  imagined  also  a  sideric  sulphury  which 
being  vivified  by  the  influence  of  the  stars,  gives  bodies' 
the  property  of  growing,  and  of  being  combustible. 
He  admits  also  a  sideric  mercury,  the  foundation  of 
fluidity  and  volatilization.  The  concourse  of  these 
three  substances  forms  the  body.  In  different  parts  of 
his  works,  Paracelsus  says,  that  the  elements  are  com- 
posed of  these  three  principles.  In  plants  he  calls  the 
salt  balsam,  the  sulphur  resin  and  the  mercury  gotaro^ 
nium.  In  other  passages  he  opposes  the  assertion  of 
the  Gralenists,  that^re  is  dry  and  hot,  air  cold  and 
moist,  earth  dry  and  cold,  water  moist  and  cold.  Each 
of  these  elements,  he  says,  is  capable  of  admitting  all 
qualities,  so  that  in  reality  there  exists  a  dry  water,  a 
coldjire,  &c. 

I  must  not  omit  another  remarkable  physiological 
doctrine  of  Paracelsus,  namely,  that  there  exists  in  the  ;  ' 
stomach  a  demon  called  ArchceuSy  who  presides  over:  j 
the  chemical  operations  which  take  place  in  it,  sepa-'  \ 
rating  the  poisonous  from  the  nutritive  part  of  food,' 
and  furnishing  the  alimentary  substances   with   the; 
tincture,  in  consequence  of  which  they  become  capable. ' . 
of  being  assimilated.     This  ruler  of  the  stomach,  who 
changes  bread  into  blood,  is  the  type  of  the  physicianj'^ 
who  ought  to  keep  up  a  good  understanding  with  him,V* 
and  lend  him  his  assistance.     To  produce  a  change  iri^ 
the  humours  ought  never  to  be  the  object  of  the  tru6  .**■;. 
physician,  he  should  endeavour  to  concentrate  all  \ai^'  ^ 
operations  on  the  stomach  and  the  ruler  who  reigns  in  it«^  1 
This  Archeeus  to  whom  the  name  of  Nature  may  abqf ' ; 


:i 


CHEMISTRT   OF   PARACELSUS.  i61 

be  gnreiiy  produce  all  the  changes  by  his  own  power. 
It  is  he  alone  who  cures  diseases.  He  has  a  head  and 
hamdSf  and  is  nothing  else  than  the  spirit  of  life,  the 
mderic  body  of  man,  and  no  other  spirit  besides  exists 
in  the  body.  Each  part  of  the  body  has  abo  a  pecu- 
Har  stomach  in  which  the  secretions  are  elaborate. 

There  are,  he  informs  us,  five  different  causes  of 
diseases.  The  first  is  the  ens  astrorum.  The  constel^ 
lations  do  not  immediately  induce  diseases,  but  they 
aher  and  infect  the  air.  This  is  what,  properly  speak* 
ing  constitutes  the  entity  of  the  stars.  Some  con- 
Btdlations  sulphurize  the  atmosphere,  others  communi- 
cate to  it  arsenical,  saline,  or  mercurial  qualities. 
The  arsenicsil  astral  entities  injure  the  blood,  the  mer« 
cuiial  the  head,  the  saline  the  bones  and  the  vessels. 
Orpiment  occasions  tumours  and  dropsies,  and  the 
Intter  stars  induce  fever. 

The  second  morbiiBc  cause  is  the  ejis  veneni,  which 
proceeds   from  alimentary  substances:   when  the  ar- 
cheus  is  languid  putrefaction  ensues,  either  localiter  or 
emuncturaliter.    This  last  takes  place  when  those  eva- 
cuations, which  ought  to  be  expelled  by  the  nose,  the 
intestines,  or  the  bladder,  are  retained  in  the  body. 
Dissolved  mercury  escapes  through  the  pores  of  the 
skin,  white  sulphur  by  the  nose,  arsenic  by  the  ears, 
sulphur  diluted  with  water  by  the  eyes,  salt  in  solution 
by  the  urine,   and  sulphur  deliquesced  by  the  in- 
testines. 

The  third  morbific  cause  of  disease  is  the  ens  na- 
turale ;  but  Paracelsus  subjects  to  the  ens  astrorum 
the  principles  which  the  schools  are  in  the  habit  of  ar- 
ranging among  the  number  of  natural  causes.  The 
ens  spirituale  forms  the  fourth  species  and  the  ens 
deale  or  Christian  entity  the  fifth.  This  last  class 
comprehends  all  the  immediate  effects  of  divine  pre- 
destmation. 

It  would  lead  us  too  far  if  I  were  to  point  out  the  / 
strange  methods  which  be  takes  to  discover  the  cause 

VOL.  I,  M 


I 


TORY   OF  CBEMISTHT. 

of  diseases.  Buthis  doctrine  concerning  tartar  is  toff 
important,  and  does  our  fanatic  too  much  credit  to  b 
omitted.  It  ia  without  doubt  the  most  useful  of  a] 
the  innovations  which  he  introduced.  Tartar  accord^ 
ing  to  him,  is  the  principle  of  all  the  maladies  pra^ 
ceeding  from  the  thickening  of  the  humours,  thll 
rigidity  of  the  solids,  or  the  accumulation  of  eartlij 
matter.  Paracelsus  thought  the  term  stone  not  suiv 
able  to  indicate  that  matter,  because  it  applies  oaly  (i_ 
one  species  of  it.  Frequently  the  principle  proceeib 
from  mucilage,  and  mucilage  is  tartar.  He  calls  thjj 
principle  iar(arf"iar(arui)  hecause  it  bums  like  hel^ 
fire,  and  occasions  the  most  dreadful  diseases.  4 
tartar  [bitartrate  of  potash)  is  deposited  at  the  bottol 
of  the  wine-cask,  in  the  same  way  tartar  in  the  livin 
body  is  deposited  on  the  surface  of  the  teeth.  It  i 
deposited  on  the  internal  parts  of  the  bodv  when  tin 
aichEBUB  acts  with  too  great  impetuosity  and  in  an  irrs 
gular  manner,  and  when  it  separates  the  nutritiv^ 
principle  with  too  much  impetuosity.  Then  the  salinl 
spirit  unites  itself  to  it  and  coagulates  the  eaitls 
principle,  which  is  always  present,  but  often  in  d| 
state  of  materiaprima  without  being  coagulated. 

In  this  manner  tartar,  in  the  state  of  mafena^jrlffU^ 
may  be  transmitted  from  father  to  son.  But  it  is  i 
hereditary  and  transmittable  when  it  has  already  i 
sumed  the  form  of  gout,  of  renal  caJculus,  or  of  ob 
struction.  The  saline  spirit  which  gives  it  its  fonj 
and  causes  its  coagulation,  is  seldom  pure  and  fr^ 
&om  mixture ;  usually  it  contains  alum,  vitriol, 
common  salt;  and  this  mixture  contributes  also 
modify  the  tartarous  diseases.  The  tartar  may 
likewise  distinguished  according  as  it  comes  from 
blood  itself,  or  from  foreign  matters  accumulated 
the  humours.  The  great  number  of  calculi  which  hai 
been  found  in  every  part  of  the  body,  and  the  obstruq 
tions,  confirm  the  generality  of  this  morbific  cans 
to  which  are  due  most  of  the  diseases  of  the  livf 


CHEMISTRY  OP  PARACELSUS.        163 

When  the  tartarous  matter  is  increased  by  certain  arti- 
cles of  food,  renal  calculi  are  engendered,  a  calculous 
paroxysm  is  induced,  and  violent  pain  is  occasioned. 
it  acts  as  an  emetic,  and  may  even  give  occasion  to 
death,  when  the  saline  spirit  becomes  corrosive ;  and 
^en  the  tartar  coagulated  by  it  becomes  too  irri- 
tating. 

TMtar,  then,  is  always  an  excrementitious  sub- 
stance, which  in  many  cases  results  from  the  too  great 
•ctivity  of  the  digestive  forces.  It  may  make  its  ap- 
pearance in  all  parts  of  the  body,  from  the  irregularity 
and  the  activity,  too  energetic  or  too  indolent,  of  the 
aicheus;  and  then  it  occasions  particular  accidents  re- 
lative to  each  of  the  functions.  Paracelsus  enumerates 
a  great  number  of  diseases  of  the  organs,  which  may 
be  explained  by  that  one  cause ;  and  affirms,  that  the 
profession  of  medicine  would  be  infinitely  more  useful, 
if  medical  men  would  endeavour  to  discover  the  tartar 
before  they  tried  to  explain  the  atFections, 

Paracelsus  points  out,  also,  the  means  by  which  we 
can  distinguish  the  presence  of  tartar  in  urine.  For 
this  it  is  necessary,  not  merely  to  inspect  the  urine, 
but  to  subject  it  to  a  chemical  analysis.  He  declaims 
violently  against  the  ordinary  ouroscopy.  He  divides 
urine  into  internal  and  external ;  the  internal  comes 
from  the  blood,  and  the  exteraal  announces  the  na- 
ture of  the  food  and  drink  which  has  been  employed. 
To  the  sediment  of  urine  he  gives  the  new  name  of 
alcola,  and  admits  three  species  of  it,  namely,  hypos^ 
tasis,  divulsio,  and  sedimen.  The  first  is  connected 
with  the  stomach,  the  second  with  the  liver,  and  the 
third  with  the  kidneys ;  and  tartar  predominates  in  all 
the  three. 

The  Cabala  constantly  directs  Paracelsus  in  his 
therapeutics  and  materia  medica.  As  all  terrestrial 
things  have  their  image  in  the  region  of  the  stars,  and 
as  diseases  depend  also  on  the  influence  of  the  stars, 

we  have  nothing  more  to  do,  in  order  to  obtain  a  cer« 


164  HISTOllY  OF  CHEMIST&T* 

tain  cure  for  these  diseases,  than  to  discover,  by  means 
ot  the  Cabala,  the  harmony  of  the  constellations. 
Gold  is  a  specific  against  all  diseases  of  the  heart,  be- 
cause, in  the  mystic  scale,  it  is  in  harmony  with  that 
viscus.  The  liquor  of  the  moon  and  crystal  cure  the 
diseases  of  the  broin.  The  liquor  aUtakest  and  cheiri 
are  efficacious  against  those  of  the  liver.  When  we 
employ  vegetable  substances,  we  nrast  consider  th«r 
harmony  with  the  constellations,  and  their  magical 
harmony  with  the  parts  of  the  body  and  the  dis^ises, 
each  star  drawing,  by  a  sort  of  magical  virtue,  the 
plant  for  which  it  has  an  affinity,  and  imparting  to  it 
Its  activitv.  So  that  plants  are  a  kind  of  sublunary 
stars.  To  discover  the  virtues  of  plants,  we  must  study 
their  anatomv  and  cheiromancv ;  for  the  leaves  are 
their  hands,  and  the  lines  observable  on  them  enable 
us  to  appreciate  the  virtues  which  they  possess.  Thus 
the  anatomv  of  the  ckelidomium  shows  us  that  it  is  a 
remeilv  for  jaundice.  These  are  the  celebrated  signa- 
tures \>\  means  of  which  we  deduce  the  virtues  of 
vegetables,  and  the  medicines  of  anak^  which  they 
present  in  relation  to  their  form.  Medicines,  like  wo- 
men, are  known  by  the  forms  which  they  afifiM^t.  He 
who  calls  in  question  this  principle,  accuses  the 
Divinity  of  falsehood,  the  infinite  wisdom  of  whom  ba« 
contrived  these  external  characters  to  bring  the  study 
of  them  more  upon  a  level  with  the  weakness  of  ua 
human  understanding.  On  the  coioUa  of  the  eu 
there  is  a  black  dot ;  firom  this  we  mav  coDclade 
it  furnishes  an  excellent  remedy  against  all 
the  eye.  The  lizard  has  the  colour  of  malignant  «lcei% 
and  of  the  carbuncle;  this  points  out  the  eflicacy 
which  that  animal  possesses  as  a  remedy.  . 

These  signatures  were  exceedingly  coavenieBt 
the  fanatics^  since  thev  saved  ^m  the  tzovhle 
studying  the  medical  virtues  of  plants,  but 

themtodecide  the  sulnect  «^  priori.    Psaracefevs 

T«ij  cottskkiiately.  When  he  ascribed  tibese  virtaa 


CHEMISTRY  OF  PARACELSUS.  165 

liriiicipally  to  the  stars,  and  affirmed  that  the  observa- 
tkm  of  favourable  constellations  is  an  indispensable 
condition  in  the  employment  of  these  medicines.  "The 
temedies  are  subjected  to  the  will  of  the  stars,  and 
directed  by  them ;  you  ought  therefore  to  wait  till 
heaven  is  favourable,  before  ordering  a  medicine." 

Paracelsus  considered  all  the  effects  of  plants  as 
specifics,  and  the  use  of  them  as  secrets.  The  same 
Bottons  explain  the  eulogy  which  he  bestowed  on  the 
^ixiroflong  life,  and  upon  all  the  means  which  he 
employed  to  prolong  the  term  of  existence.  He  be- 
lieved that  these  methods,  which  contained  the  materia 
prinuiy  served  to  repair  the  constant  waste  of  that  mat- 
ter in  the  human  body.  He  was  acquainted,  he  says, 
with  four  of  these  arcana,  to  which  he  applied  the 
mystic  terms,  mercury  of  life,  philosopher  s  stone, 
&c.  The  polygonum  persicaria  was  an  infallible 
specific  against  all  the  effects  of  magic.  The  method 
of  using  it  is,  to  apply  it  to  the  suffering  part,  and  then 
to  bury  it  in  the  earth.  It  draws  out  the  malignant 
spirits  like  a  magnet,  and  it  is  buried  to  prevent  these 
malignant  spirits  from  making  their  escape. 

The  reformation  of  Paracelsus  had  the  great  advan- 
tage of  representing  chemistry  as  an  indispensable  art 
in  the  preparation  of  medicines.  The  disgusting  de- 
coctions and  useless  syrups  gave  place  to  tinctures, 
essences,  and  extracts.  Paracelsus  says,  expressly, 
that  the  true  use  of  chemistry  is  to  prepare  medicines, 
and  not  to  make  gold.  He  takes  that  opportunity  of 
declaiming  against  cooks  and  innkeepers,  who  drown 
medicines  in  soup,  and  thus  destroy  all  their  proper- 
ties. He  blames  medical  men  for  prescribing  simples, 
or  mixtures  of  simples,  and  afHrms  that  the  object 
should  always  be  to  extract  the  quintessence  of  each 
substance ;  and  he  describes  at  length  the  method  of 
extracting  this  quintessence.  But  he  was  very  little 
scrupulous  about  the  substances  from  which  this  quint- 


166  BISTOET  OF  CHSHISTRT. 

essence  was  to  be  extracted.  The  heart  of  a  hare,  the 
bones  of  a  hare,  the  bone  of  the  heart  of  a  stag,  mo- 
ther-of-pearl, coral,  and  various  other  bodies  may,  he 
says,  be  used  indiscriminately  to  furnish  a  quintessence 
capable  of  curing  some  of  the  most  grievous  diseases. 

Paracelsus  combats  with  peculiar  energy  the  method 
of  cure  employed  by  the  disciples  of  Gralen,  directed 
solely  against  the  predominating  humours,  and  the 
elementary  qualities.  He  blames  them  for  attempting 
to  correct  the  action  of  their  medicines,  by  the  addition 
of  useless  ingredients.  Fire  and  chemistry,  he  affirmed, 
are  the  sole  correctives.  It  was  Paracelsus  that  first 
introduced  tin  as  a  remedy  for  worms,  though  his  mode 
of  employing  it  was  not  good. 

I  have  been  thus  particular  in  pointing  out  the  phi- 
losophical and  medical  opinions  of  Paracelsus,  because 
they  were  productive  of  such  important  consequences, 
by  setting  medical  men  free  from  the  slavish  deference 
which  they  had  been  accustomed  to  pay  to  the  dogmas 
of  Galen  and  Avicenna.  But  it  was  the  high  rank  to 
which  he  raised  chemistry,  by  making  a  knowledge  of 
it  indispensable  to  all  medical  men ;  and  by  insisting 
that  the  great  importance  of  chemistry  did  not  consist 
in  the  formation  of  gold,  but  in  the  preparation  of 
medicines,  that  rendered  the  era  of  Paracelsus  so 
important  in  the  history  of  chemistry ;  for  after  hk 
time  the  art  of  chemistry  was  cultivated  by  medical 
men  in  general — it  became  a  necessary  part  of  tbe|r 
education,  and  began  to  be  taught  in  colleges  aofl 
medical  schools.  The  object  of  chemistry  came  to 
be,  not  to  discover  the  philosopher's  stone,  but  to 
prepare  medicines ;  and  a  great  number  of  new  m^ 
dicines,  both  from  the  mineral  and  vegetable  king^ 
dom — some  of  more,  some  of  less,  consequenc^, 
soon  issued  from  the  laboratories  of  the  chemiod' 
physicians. 

There  can  be  little  doubt  that  many  chemical  prf^ 


CHEMISTRY  OF   I 

parations  were  either  first  introduced  into  medicine  by 
Paracelsus,  or  al  least  were  firat  openly  prescribed  by 
hlia:  tbough  from  the  nature  of  his  writings,  and  the 
tecrecy  in  which  he  endeavoured  to  keep  his  most 
Tiluable  remedies,  it  is  not  easy  to  point  out  what 
fliese  remedies  were.  Mercury  is  said  to  have  been 
employed  in  medicine  by  Basil  Valentine ;  but  it  was 
Paracelsus  who  first  used  it  openly  aa  a  cure  for  the 
venereal  disease,  and  who  drew  general  attention  to  it 
by  his  encomiums  on  its  medical  virtues,  and  by  the 
eclat  of  the  cures  which  he  performed  by  means  of  it, 
after  ail  the  Galenical  prescriptions  of  the  schools  had 
been  tried  in  vain. 

He  ascertained  Uiat  alum  contains,  united  to  an 
acid,  not  a  metallic  oxide,  but  an  earth.  He  mentions 
metallic  arsenic ;  but  there  is  some  reason  for  believ- 
iag  that  this  metal  was  known  to  Geber  and  the 
Arabian  physicians.  Zinc  is  mentioned  by  him,  and 
likewise  bismuth,  as  substances  not  truly  metallic,  but 
approaching  to  metals  in  their  properties  :  for  mallea- 
bility and  ductility  were  considered  by  him  as  essential 
to  the  metals.  *  I  cannot  be  sure  of  any  other  chemical 
Act  which  appears  in  Paracelsus,  and  which  was  not 
known  before  his  time.  The  use  of  sal  ammoniac  in 
Eublimihg;  several  metallic  calces,  was  familiar  to  him, 
but  it  bad  long  ago  been  explained  by  Geber.  It  is 
clear  also  that  Geber  was  acquainted  with  aqua  regia, 
and  that  he  employed  it  to  dissolve  gold.  Paracelsus's 
reputation  as  a  chemist,  therefore,  depends  not  upon 

■  PliiloMipliia!,  tract,  iv.  De  Mineralibus.  Opera  Farscelsi,  ii. 
2S2.  "  Quaodo  ergo  hoc  modo  metaltii  Bunt  et  proJucuntur, 
dum  scilicet  venu  raelalticus  Buxub  et  ductilitas  nufertur  et 
in  Beptem  metatls  diatribtiitur;  reBidentia  quwdnin  manet  in 
Ares,  inilar  fixtilm  triam  primorum.  Ex  hac  neacilur  aiuetnm, 
quod  et  metallum  eat  et  non  eit.  Sic  et  bisemutiim  et  huic 
■iinilia  alia  '.  partim  fluidn,  partim  duclilia  aunt — Ziattuni 
maiima  ex  parte  spurin  aoboles  est  ex  cupro  rt  bisemntum  de 
stsnno.  Ex  hisce  duobua  omaium  plurimie  fiEces  el 
in  Art*  &iuit." 


.168  HISTORY   OF  CHEMISTRY. 

any  discoveries  which  he  actually  made,  but  upon  the 
great  importance  which  he  attached  to  the  knowledge 
of  it,  and  to  his  making  an  acquaintance  with  chemistry 
an  indispensable  requisite  of  a  medical  education. 

'Paracelsus,  as  the  founder  of  a  new  system  of 
medicine,  the  object  of  which  was  to  draw» chemistry 
out  of  that  state  of  obscurity  and  degradation  into 
which  it  had  been  plunged,  and  to  give  it  the  charge 
of  the  preparation  of  medicine,  and  presiding  over  the 
whole  healing  art,  deserved  a  particular  notice ;  and 
I  have  even  endeavoured,  at  some  length,  to  lay  his 
system  of  opinions,  absurd  as  it  is,  before  the  reader. 
But  the  same  attention  is  not  due  to  the  herd  of  fol- 
lowers who  adopted  his  absurdities,  and  even  carried 
them,  if  possible,  still  further  than  their  master :  at 
the  same  time  there  are  one  or  two  particulars  con- 
nected with  the  Paracelsian  sect  which  it  would  be 
improper  to  omit. 

The  most  celebrated  of  his  followers  was  Leonhard 
Thumeysser-zum-Thurn,  who  was  bom  in  1530,  at 
Basle,  where  his  father  was  a  goldsmith.  His  life, 
like  that  of  his  master,  was  checkered  with  very  extra- 
ordinary vicissitudes.  In  1560  he  was  sent  to  Scot- 
land to  examine  the  lead-mines  in  that  country.  la 
1558  he  commenced  miner  and  sulphur  extractor  at 
Tarenz  on  the  Inn,  and  was  so  successful,  that  he' 
acquired  a  great  reputation.  He  had  turned  his  atten* 
tion  to  medicine  on  the  Paracelsian  plan,  and  in  156ft 
made  himself  distinguished  by  several  important  curei 
which  he  performed.  In  1570  he  published  his  Quintq^ 
Essentia,  with  wooden  cuts,  in  Munster ;  from  thenc^ 
he  went  to  Frankfort  on  the  Oder,  and  published  his 
Piso,  a  work  which  treats  of  waters^  rivers^  and 
springs.  John  Geoige,  Elector  of  Brandenburg,  wa^ 
at  that  time  in  Frankfort,  and  was  informed  that  that 
treatise  of  Thurneysser  pointed  out  the  existence  of  ^L 
great  deal  of  riches  in  the  March  of  Brandenburg,  .tiiB- 
that  time  unknown.    His  courtiers,  who  were  aiudcmir 


i 


CHSMISTEY  07  PARACELSUS.  169 

Id  establish  mines  in  their  possessions,  united  in  re« 
eommending  the  author.  He  was  consulted  about  a 
disease  under  which  the  wife  of  the  elector  was  labour-, 
ing,  and  having  performed  a  cure,  he  was  immediately 
named  physician  to  this  prince. 

He  turned  this  situation  to  the  best  account.     He 
■oM  Spanish  white,  and  other  cosmetics,  to  the  ladies 
of  the  court ;  and  instead  of  the  disgusting  decoctions 
of  the  Gralenists,   he   administered  the   remedies  of 
Paracelsus  under  the  pompous  titles  of  tincture  of 
goldy  magistery  of  the  sun,  potable  gold,  &c.      By 
these  methods  he  succeeded  in  amassing  a  prodigious 
fortune,  but  was  not  fortunate  enough  to  be  able  to 
keep  it.     Gaspard  Hoffmann,  professor  at  Frankfort, 
ft  well-informed   and  enlightened  man,  published  a 
treatise,  the  object  of  which  was  to  expose  the  extra- 
vagant pretensions  and  ridiculous  ignorance  of  Thur- 
neysser.     This  book  drew  the  attention  of  the  cour- 
tiers, and   opened  the  eyes  of  the  elector.     Thur- 
^ysser  lost  much  of  his  reputation ;  and  the  methods 
^  which  he  attempted  to  bolster  himself  up,  served 
^ly  to   sink  him   still  lower   in   the    estimation  of 
^n  of  sense.     Among  other  things,  he  gave  out  that 
he  Was  the  possessor  of  a  devil,  which  he  carried  about 
^th  him  in  a  bottle.     This  pretended  devil  was  no- 
J^ng  else  than  a  scorpion,  preserved  in  a  phial  of  oil. 
*he  trick  was  discovered,  and  the  usual  consequences 
J^Howed.     He  lost  a  process  with  his  wife,  from  whom 
^  Was  separated ;  this  deprived  him  of  the  greatest 
prt  of  his  fortune.     In  1584  he  fled  to  Italy,  where 
"^  occupied  himself  with  the  transmutation  of  metals, 
I     '^d  he  died  at  Cologne  in  1595. 
j       .  Thumeysser  extols  Paracelsus  as  the  only  ti'ue  phy- 
"     ?*cian  that  ever  existed.     His  Quintessence  is  written 
^^  verse.     In  the  first  book  The  Secret  is  the  speaker. 
Re  is  represented  with  a  padlock  in  his  mouth,  a  key 
^  his  hand,  and  seated  on  a  coffer  in  a  chamber,  the 
windows  of  which  are  shut.  This  personage  teaches  that 


170  .  HISTORY  OF  CHEMISTRY. 

all  things  are  composed  of  salt,  sulphur,  and  mercury, 
or  of  earth,  air,  and  water;  and  consequently  that 
fire  is  excluded  from  the  number  of  the  elements.  We 
must  search  for  the  secret  in  the  Bible,  and  then  in 
the  stars  and  the  spirits.  In  the  second  book,il^Aymy 
is  the  speaker.  She  points  out  the  mode  of  perform- 
ing the  processes  ;  and  says  that  to  endeavour  to  fix 
volatile  substances,  is  the  same  thing  as  to  endeavour 
to  trace  white  letters  on  a  wall  with  a  piece  of  char-* 
coal.  She  prohibits  all  long  processes,  because  God 
created  the  world  in  six  days. 

His  method  of  judging  of  the  diseases  from  the 
urine  of  the  patient  deserves  to  be  mentioned.  He 
distilled  the  urine,  and  fixed  to  the  receiver  a  tube 
furnished  with  a  scale,  the  degrees  of  which  consisted 
of  all  the  parts  of  the  body.  The  phenomena  which 
be  observed  during  the  distillation  of  the  urine,  enabled 
him  to  draw  inferences  respecting  the  state  of  all  these 
difierent  organs. 

I  pass  over  Bodenstein,  Taxites,  and  Dom,  who 
distinguished  themselves  as  partisans  of  Paracelsus, 
Dom  derived  the  whole  of  chemistry  from  the  first 
chapter  of  Genesis,  the  words  of  which  he  explained 
in  an  alchymistical  sense.  These  words  in  particular, 
*^  And  God  made  the  firmament,  and  divided  the 
waters  which  were  under  the  firmament  from  tbe 
waters  which  were  above  the  firmament,"  appeared  te 
him  to  be  an  account  of  the  great  work.  Severinus, 
physician  to  the  Sang  of  Denmark,  and  canon  of  Roe^ 
kild,  was  also  a  celebrated  partisan  of  Paracebusf 
but  his  writings  do  not  show  either  that  knowledge  m 
stretch  of  thought  which  would  enable  us  to  accofuai 
for  the  reputation  which  he  acquired  and  enjoyed. 

There  were  very  few  partisans  of  Paracelsus  out  lai  '. 
Germany.   The  most  celebrated  of  his  followers  amoog 
the  French,  was  Joseph  du  Chesne,  better  known  bf 
the    name    of   Quercitanus,  who  was  physician  l»  .• 
Henry  IV,    He  was  a  native  of  Gascony,  and  diiV 


CDEMI8TRY  OF  PARACELSUS.  171 

many  enemies  upon  himself  by  bis  arrogant  and  over- 
bearing conduct.  He  pretended  to  be  acquainted 
with  the  method  of  making  gold.  He  was  a  thorough- 
going Paracelsian.  He  affirmed  that  diseases,  bke 
plants,  spring  from  seeds.  The  word  alchymy,  ac- 
cording to  him,  is  composed  of  the  two  Greek  words 
Skg  (salt)  and  xw^^^  because  the  great  secret  is  con- 
cealed in  salt.  All  bodies  are  composed  of  three 
principles,  as  God  is  of  three  substances.  These 
principles  are  contained  in  saltpetre,  the  salts  of  sul- 
phur solid  and  volatile,  and  the  volatile  mercurial 
salt.  He  who  possesses  sal  generalis  may  easily  produce 
philosophical  gold,  and  draw  potable  gold  from  the 
three  kingdoms  of  nature.  To  prove  the  possibility 
of  this  transmutation,  he  cites  an  experiment  very 
often  repeated  after  him,  and  which  some  theologians 
have  even  employed  as  analagous  to  the  resurrection  of 
the  dead ;  namely,  the  faculty  which  plants  have  of 
being  produced  from  their  ashes.  His  materia  medica  is 
founded  on  the  signatures  of  plants,  which  he  carries 
80  far  as  to  assert  that  male  plants  are  more  suitable 
to  men,  and  female  plants  to  women.  Sulphuric  acid, 
he  says,  has  a  magnetic  virtue,  in  consequence  of 
•which  it  is  capable  of  curing  the  epilepsy.  He  re- 
commends the  Tnagisterium  cranii  humani  as  an  ex- 
cellent medicine,  and  boasts  much  of  the  virtues  of 
antimony. 

Du  Chesne  was  opposed  by  Riolanus,  who  attacked 
chemical  remedies  with  much  bitterness.  The  medical 
faculty  of  Paris  took  up  the  cause  of  the  Galenists 
with  much  zeal,  and  prohibited  their  fellows  and 
licentiates  from  using  any  chemical  medicines  what- 
ever. He  had  to  sustain  a  dispute  with  Aubert  relative 
to  the  origin  smd  the  transmutation  of  metals.  Fenot 
came  to  the  assistance  of  Aubert,  and  affirmed  that 
gold  possesses  no  medical  properties  whatever,  that 
crahs*  eyes  are  of  no  use  when  administered  in  inter- 
mittents,  and  that  the  laudanum  of  Paracelsus  (being 


172  HISTORY  OP  CHEMISTRY. 

an  opiate)  is  in  reality  hurtful  instead  of  being  bene- 
ficial. 

The  decree  of  the  medical  faculty  of  Paris  which 
placed  antimony  among  the  poisons,  and  which  occa- 
sioned that  of  the  Parliament  'of  Paris,  was  composed 
by  Simon  Pietre,  the  elder,  a  man  of  great  erudition 
and  the  most  unimpeachable  probity.  Had  it  been 
literally  obeyed  it  would  have  occasioned  very  violent 
proceedings ;  because  chemical  remedies,  as  they  act 
more  promptly  and  with  greater  energy,  were  getting 
daily  into  more  general  use.  In  1603  the  celebrated 
Theodore  Turquet  de  Mayenne  was  prosecuted,  be- 
cause, in  spite  of  the  prohibition,  he  had  sold  antimo- 
nial  preparations.  The  decree  of  the  faculty  against 
him  exhibits  a  remarkable  proof  of  the  bigotry  and 
intolerance  of  the  times.*  However  Turquet  does 
not  seem  to  have  been  molested  notwithstanding  this 
decree.  He  ceased  indeed  to  be  professor  of  che- 
mistry, but  continued  to  practise  medicine  as  formerly ; 
and  two  members  of  the  faculty,  Seguin  and  Akakia, 
even  wrote  an  apology  for  him.  At  last  he  went  to 
England,  whither  he  had  been  invited,  to  accept  an 
honourable  appointment. 

*  It  was  as  follows :  "  Collegium  medicorum  in'Academia  Pa- 
risiensi  legitime  congregatum,  audita  renunciatione  sensorum,* 
quibus  demandata  erat  provincia  examinandi   apologiam  sub 
nomine  Mayerni   Turqueti  editam,   ipsam  unanimi  consensu 
damnat,  tanquam  famosum  libellum,  mendacibus  conviciis  «t 
impudentibus    calumniis    refertum,   quae  nonnisi   ab    homiaf| 
imperito,  impud^nti,  temulento  et  furioso  profiteri  potuerunL 
Ipsum  Turquetum  indignum  judicat,  qui  usquam  mediciniOft 
faciat,  propter   temeritatem,  impudentiam  et  verse  medidnai. 
ignorantiam.     Omnes  vero  medicos,  qui  ubique  gentium  «C 
locorum   medicinam  exercent,  hortatur  ut  ipsum  Turquetunj^ 
similiaque  *hominum  et  opinionum  portenta,  a  se  suisque  fini- 
bus  arceant  et  in  Hippocratis  ac  Galeni  doctriim  constantes  per^    ■ 
maneant :  et  probibuit  ne  quis  ex  boc  medicorum  Parisiensltni 
ordine  cum  Turqueto  eique  similibus   medica  consilia   ineatt    '. 
Qui  secus  fecerit,  scbols  omamentis  et  academise  pHvilcgii^i    , 
privabitur,  et  de  regentium  numero  enungetur.— Datum  hatt^ 
tin  in  scfaolis  superioribus,  die  5  Decembris,  anno  salutis,  1$08.^ 


CUEHISTRt   OF   PARACELSUS.  173 

The  mystical  doctrines  of  Paracelsus  are  supposed 
to  have  given  origin  to  the  sect  of  Rosecrucians,  con- 
cerning which  so  much  has  been  written  and  so  little 
certain  is  known.  It  is  not  at  all  unlikely  that  the 
greatest  part,  if  not  the  whole  that  has  been  stated 
about  the  antiquity,  and  extent,  and  importance  of 
this  sect,  is  mere  fiction,  and  that  the  origin  of  the 
whole  was  nothing  else  than  a  ludicrous  performance 
of  Valentine  Andreae,  an  ecclesiastic  of  Calwe,  in  the 
country  of  Wirtemburg,  a  man  of  much  learning, 
genius,  and  philanthropy.  From  his  life,  written  by 
himself,  and  preserved  in  the  library  of  Wolfenbuttel, 
we  learn  that  in  the  year  1603  he  drew  up  the  cele- 
brated Noce  Chimique  of  Christian  Rosenkreuz,  in  order 
to  counteract  the  alchymistical  and  the  theosophistical 
dogmas  so  common  at  that  period.  He  was  unable  to 
restrain  his  risible  faculties  when  he  saw  this  ludibrium 
juvenilis  ingenii  adopted  as  a  true  history,  while  he 
meant  it  merely  as  a  satire.  It  is  believed  that  the 
Fama  Fratemitatis  is  a  production  of  this  ecclesiastic, 
and  that  he  published  it  in  order  to  correct  the  che- 
mists and  enthusiasts  of  the  time.  He  himself  was 
called  Andreae,  Knight  of  the  Rose-cross  (ro5<p  crucis) 
because  he  had  engraven  on  his  seal  a  cross  with  four 
roses. 

It  is  true  that  Andreae  instituted,  in  1620,  a/ra^er- 
nitas  christifina,  but  with  quite  other  views  than  those 
which  are  supposed  to  have  actuated  the  Rosecrucians. 
His  object  was  to  correct  the  religious  opinions  of 
the  times,  and  to  separate  Christian  theology  from 
scholastic  controversies,  with  which  it  had  been  unhap- 
pily intermixed.  He  himself,  in  different  parts  of  his 
writings,  distinguishes  carefully  between  the  Rosecru- 
cians and  his  own  society,  and  amuses  himself  with 
the  credulity  of  the  German  theosophists,  who  adopted 
so  readily  his  fiction  for  a  series  of  truths.  It  would 
appear,  therefore,  that  this  secret  order  of  Rosecru- 
ciansy  uotwithstandbg  the  brilliaAt  origia  assigned  to 


174  BISTORT  OF  €H£HIST&Y« 

it,  really  owes  its  birth  to  the  pleasantry  of  a  clergyman 
of  Wirtemburg,  who  endeavoured  by  that  means  to 
set  bounds  to  the  chimeras  of  theosophy,  but  who  un- 
fortunately only  increased  still  more  the  adherents  of 
this  absurd  science. 

A  crowd  of  enthusiasts  found  it  too  advantageous 
to  propagate  the  principles  of  the  rosa  crux  not  to 
endeavour  to  unite  them  into  a  sect.  Valentine  Wei- 
gel,  a  fanatical  preacher  at  Tschoppau,  near  Chemnitz^ 
left  at  his  death  a  prodigious  number  of  followers,  who 
were  already  Rosecrucians,  without  bearing  the  name« 
Egidius  Gutmann,  of  Suabia,  was  equally  a  Rosecni- 
cian,  without  bearing  the  name;  he  condemned  dit 
pagan  medicines,  and  affirmed  that  he  possessed  the 
universal  remedy  which  ennobles  man,  cures  all  dis-* 
eases,  and  gives  man  the  power  of  fabricating  gold. 
"  To  fly  in  the  air,  to  transmute  metals,  and  to  know 
all  the  sciences,"  says  he,  "  nothing  more  is  requisite.  . 
than  faith." 

Oswald  CroUius,  of  Hesse,  must  also  take  his  sta« 
tion  in  this  honourable  fraternity  of  enthusiasts.     He 
was  physician  to  the  Prince  of  Anhalt,  and  afterwards 
a  counsellor  of  the  Emperor  Rodolphus  H.     The  in- 
troduction to  his  Basilica  Chymica,  contains  a  short'  . 
but  exact  epitome  of  the  opinions  of  Paracelsus.     It  irf^ 
not  worth  while  to  give  the  reader  a  notion  of  his  own  ~ 
opinions,  which  are  quite  as  absurd  and  unintelligibly- 
as  those  of  Paracelsus  and  his  followers.     As  a  pre-'' 
parer  of  chemical  medicines  he  deserves  more  credit  j-' 
antimonium  diaphoreticum  was  a  favourite  preparation ' 
of  his,  and  so  was  sulphate  of  potash,  which  watf'  ' 
known  at  the  time  by  the  name  of  spedficum  purgaiQf 
Paracelsi:  he  knew  chloride  of  silver  well,  and  first* 
gave  it  the  name  of  luna  cornea,  or  horn  silver :  fnl-*; 
minating  gold  was  known  to  him,  and  called  by  hin^ - 
aurum  volatile. 

This  is  the  place  to  mention  Andrew  LibaviuSy  of^ 
Hallei  in  Saxony^  where  he  wsis  a  physician^  and  ^ 


CHXMISTRT  OF  PARACELSUS.  175 

profesBOT  in  the  gymnasium  of  Coburg,  T^ho  was  one  of 
the  most  successful  opponents  of  the  school  of  Para- 
celsus, and  whose  writings  do  him  much  credit.     As 
a  chemist,  he  deserves  perhaps  to  occupy  a  higher 
rank,  than  any  of  his  contemporaries :  he  was,  it  it 
true,  a  believer  in  the  possibility  of  transmuting  metals, 
and  boasted  of  the  wonderful  powers  of  aurum  pota  ' 
bile;   but  he  always  distinguishes  between  rational 
alchymy  and  the  mental  alchymy  of  Paracelsus.     He 
separated,  with  great  care,  chemistry  from  the  reveries 
of  the  theosophists,  and  stands  at  the  head  of  those 
who  opposed  most  successfully  the  progress  of  super- 
stition  and  fanaticism,  which  was  making  such  an 
overwhelming  progress  in  his  time.     His  writings  are 
very  numerous  and  various,  and  were  collected  and 
published  at  Frankfort,  in  1615,  in  three  folio  volumes, 
under  the  title  of  "  Opera  omnia  Medico-chymica." 
Libavius  himself  died  in  1616.    It  would  occupy  more 
space  than  we  have  room  for,  to  attempt  an  abstract  of 
ms  very  multifarious  works.     A  few  observations  will 
be  sufficient:  he  wrote  no  fewer  than  five  different 
tracts  to  expose  the  quackery  of  George  Amwald, 
who  had  boasted  that  he  was  in  possession  of  a  panacea, 
by  means  of  which  he  was  enabled  to  perform  the  most 
Wonderful  cures,  and  which  he  was  in  the  habit  of 
selling  to  his  patients  at  an  enormous  price;    Li 
bavins  showed  that  this  boasted  panacea  was  nothing 
^ae  than  cinnabar,  which  neither  possessed  the  virtues 
Scribed  to  it  by  Amwald,  nor  deserved  to  be  purchased 
^t  80  high  a  price.    He  entered  also  into  a  controversy 
with  CroUius,  and  exposed  his  fanatical  and  absurd 
opinions.    He  engaged  likewise  in  a  dispute  with  Hen- 
QJng  Scheunemann,  a  physician  in  Bamberg,  who  was 
a  Rosecrucian,  and,  like  the  rest  of  his  brethren,  pro- 
foundly ignorant  not. merely  of  all  science,  but  even 
of  philology.    The  expressions  of  Scheunemann  are 
so  obscure,  that  we  learn  more  of  his  opinions  from 
libavius  than  from  his  own  writings*    He  divides  the 


176  HisTomr  or  CHSxiarmT. 

mtefml  BjAiue  of  mui  into  seven  difieiml  dtigiuSyfTom 
the  seven  changes  it  undeigoes :  these  are,  combus- 
tion, saUimationy  dissolutiony  potrelactiony  distillatkniy 
coagulation,  and  tincture.  He  gives  ns  likewise  an 
account  of  ten  modifications  which  the  three  elements 
undergo ;  but  as  they  are  quite  unintelligible,  it  is  not 
worth  while  to  state  them.  Libavius  had  the  patience 
to  analyze  and  expose  all  these  gallimadas. 

Libavius*s  system  of  dmnistry,  oitided  **  Akhymia 
k  dispersts  passim  optimorum  auctorum,  Tetemm  et 
recentiorum  exemplis  potissimum,  tum  etiam  preceptis 
quibusdam  operose  collecta,  adhilntisque  raticme  et 
experientia  quanta  potuit  esse  methodo  accurate  ex- 
plicata  et  in  integrum  corpus  redacta.  Accesserunt 
tractati  nonnuUi  physici  chymici  item  methodistici.'' 
Frankfort,  1595,  folio,  1597,  4to.  —  is  really  an  ex-^ 
cellent  book,  considering  the  period  in  which  it  was 
written,  and  deserves  the  attention  of  every  person 
who  is  interested  in  the  history  of  chemistry.  I  shall 
notice  some  of  the  most  remarkable  chemical  facts 
which  occur  in  Libavius,  and  which  I  have  not  observed 
in  any  preceding  writer ;  who  the  actual  discoverer  of 
these  facts  really  was,  it  is  impossible  to  say,  in  con- 
sequence of  the  secrecy  which  at  that  time  was  affect- 
ed, and  the  obscure  terms  in  which  chemical  facts  are 
in  general  stated. 

He  was  aware  that  the  fumes  of  sulphur  have  the 
property  of  blackening  white  lead.  He  was  in  the 
nabit  of  purifying  cinnabar  by  means  of  arsenic  and- 
oxide  of  lead.  He  knew  the  method  of  giving  glass  ft 
red  colour  by  means  of  gold  or  its  oxide,  and  wilt 
aware  of  the  method  of  making  artificial  gems,  soctr> 
as  ruby,  topaz,  hyacinth,  garnet,  balass,  by  tingini^ 
glass  by  means  of  metallic  oxides.  He  points  out" 
fluor  spar  as  an  excellent  flux  for  various  metals  an^ 
their  oxides.  He  knew  that  when  metals  were  fusedl 
along  with  alkaline  bodies,  a  certain  portion  of  theittk  ' 
was  converted  into  slags,  and  this  portion  be  endefe^T 


CHKMISTRT   OP   PARACEL81I)B.  177 

wated  to  recover  by  the  addition  of  iron  filings. 
He  was  aware  of  the  mode  of  acidifying  sulphur  by 
means  of  nitric  acid.  He  knew  that  camphor  is  so- 
luble in  nitric  acid,  and  forms*  with  it  a  kind  of  oil. 
Of  the  perchloride  of  tin  he  was  undoubtedly  the  dis- 
eoverer,  as  it  has  continued  ever  since  his  time  to 
pass  by  his  name ;  ndjaely,  fuming  liquor  of  Libavius, 
He  was  aware,  that  alcohol  or  spirits  could  be  ob« 
tained  by  distilling  the  fermented  jiiice  of  a  great  va- 
riety of  sweet  fruits.  He  procured  sulphuric  acid  by 
the  distillation  of  alum  and  sulphate  of  iron,  as  Ge- 
ber  had  done  long  before  his  time ;  but  he  determined 
the  nature  of  the  acid  with  more  care  than  had  been 
done,  and  showed,  that  it  was  tlie  same  as  that  ob- 
tained by  the  combustion  of  sulphur  along  with  salt- 
petre. To  him,  therefore,  in  some  measure,  are  we 
indebted  for  the  process  of  preparing  sulphuric  acid 
which  is  at  present  practised  by  manufacturers. 

Libavius  found  a  successor  in  Angelus  Sala,  of 
Vicenza,  physician  to  the  Duke  of  Mecklenburg- 
Schwerin,  worthy  of  his  enlightened  views  and  inde- 
fatigable exertions  to  oppose  the  torrent  of  fanaticism 
which  threatened  to  overwhelm  all  Europe.  Sala  was 
still  more  addicted  to  chemical  remedies  than  Libavius 
himself;  but  he  had  abjured  a  multitude  of  preju- 
dices which  had  distinguished  the  school  of  Paracelsus. 
He  discarded  aurum  jjotabile,  and  considered  ful- 
minating gold  as  the  only  remedy  of  that  metal  that 
deserved  to  be  prescribed  by  medical  men.  He  treated 
the  notion  of  the  existence  of  a  universal  remedy 
with  contempt.  He  described  sulphuret  of  gold  and 
glass  of  antimony  with  a  good  deal  of  precision.  He 
recommended  sulphuric  acid  as  an  excellent  remedy, 
and  showed  that  it  might  be  formed  indifferently  from 
sulphur,  or  by  distilling  blue  vitriol  or  green  vitriol. 
He  affirmed,  that  the  essential  salts  obtained  from 
plants  had  not  the  same  virtues  as  the  plants  from 
which  they  are  obtained.     He  showed  that  sal  am- 

VOL.  I.  X 


178  aiSTOXT  OF  CHEMISTBT*   « 

moniac  is  a  compound  of  muriatic  acid  and  ammonia. 
To  him,  therefore,  we  are  indebted  for  the  first  ac- 
curate mention  of  ammonia.  It  could  not  but  have 
been  noticed  before  by  chemists,  as  it  is  procured  with 
so  much  ease  by  the  distillation  of  animal  substances ; 
but  Sala  is  the  first  person  who  seems  to  have  exa- 
mined it  with  attention,  and  to  have  recognised  its 
peculiar  properties,  and  the  readiness  with  which  it 
saturates  the  different  acids.  He  showed  that  iron 
has  the  property  of  precipitating  copper  from  acid  so- 
lutions :  he  pointed  out  also  various  precipitations  of 
metals  by  other  metals.  He  seems  to  have  been  ac- 
quainted with  calomel,  and  to  have  been  aware  of 
at  least  some  of  its  medical  properties.  He  says, 
that  fulminating  gold  loses  its  fulminating  property 
when  mixed  with  its  own  weight  of  sulphur,  and  the 
sulphur  is  burnt  oflf  it.  Many  other  curious  chemical 
facts  occur  in  his  writings,  which  it  would  be  too  te- 
dious to  particularize  here.  His  works  were  collected 
and  published  in  a  quarto  volume  at  Frankfort,  in 
1647,  under  the  title  of  "  Opera  Medico-chymica,  quce 
extant  omnia.'*  There  was  another  edition  in  the 
same  place  in  1682,  and  an  edition  was  published  at 
Rome  in  1650. 


i 


■■t 

■  4 

1 


TAir   B£LHOVT   AKS   THE  lATSQ-CHEMISTS. 


CHAPTER  V. 


8  first  raised  the  dignity  of  chemistry, 
by  pointing  out  the  necessity  of  it  for  medical  men, 
and  by  showing  the  superiority  of  chemical  medicines 
over  the  disgusting  decoctions  of  the  Oalenists.  Li- 
bavins  and  Angelus  Sala  had  carefully  separated  che- 
mistry from  the  fanatical  opinions  of  the  followers  of 
Paracelsns  and  the  Rosecrucians.  But  matters  were 
not  doomed  to  remain  in  this  state.  Cliemiatry  under- 
went  a  new  revolution  at  this  period,  which  shook  the 
Spagirical  system  to  its  foundation;  substituted  other 
principles,  and  gave  to  medicine  an  aspect  entirely 
new.  Thii  revolution  was  in  a  great  measure  due  to 
the  labours  of  Van  Helmont, 

John  Baptist  Van  Helmont  was  a  gentleman  of 
Brabant,  and  Lord  of  Metode,  of  Royenboch,  of 
Oorschot,  and  of  Pellines.  He  was  born  in  Brussels 
in  1577,  and  studied  scholastic  philosophy  in  Louvain 
till  the  age  of  seventeen.  After  having  finished  his 
humaidty  (as  it  was  termed),  he  ought,  according  to 
the  usage  of  the  place,  to  have  taken  his  degree  of 
master  of  arts;  but,  having  reflected  on  the  futility  of 
these  ceremonies,  he  resolved  never  to  solicit  any  aca- 
demical honour.  He  next  associated  himself  to  the-  ■ 
Jesuits,  who  then  delivered  courses  of  philosophy  at 
Louvaiu,  to  the  great  displeasure  of  the  professors  oC 
s  2 


180  HISTORY   OF   CHEMISTRY. 

that  city.  One  of  the  most  celebrated  of  the  Jesuits, 
Martin  del  Rio,  even  taught  him  magic.  But  Van 
Helmont  was  disappointecl  in  his  expectations:  in- 
stead of  that  true  wisdom  which  he  hoped  to  ac- 
quire, he  met  with  nothing  but  scholastic  dialectics, 
with  all  its  usual  subtilties.  He  was  no  better  satisfied 
with  the  doctrines  of  the  Stoics,  who  taught  him  his 
own  weakness  and  misery. 

At  last  the  works  of  Tliomas  k  Kempis,  and  John 
Taulerus  fell  into  his  hands. '  These  sacred  books  of 
mysticism  attracted  his  attention  :  he  thought  that  he 
perceived  that  v/isdom  is  the  •  gift  of  the  Supreme 
Being ;  that  it  must  be  obtained  by  prayer ;  and  that 
we  must  renounce  our  own  will,  if  we  wish  to  partici- 
pate in  the  influence  of  the  divine  grace.  From  this 
moment  he  imitated  Jesus  Christ,  in  his  humility.  -He 
abandoned  all  his  property  to  his  sister,  renouncing 
the  privileges  of  his  birth,  and  laying  aside  the :  rank 
which  he  had  hitherto  occupied  in  society.  ■  It  was 
not  long  before  he  reaped  the  fruit  of  these  abnega- 
tions. A  genius  appeared  to  him  in  all  the  important 
chrcumstances  of  his  life.  In  the  year  1 633  r  his  own 
soul  appeared  to  him  under  the  figure  of  a  resplendent 
crystal.  <      ;  . 

The  desire  which- he  had   of  imitating  in   every 
respect  the  conduct  of  Christ,  suggested  ttojiim^tlie 
idea  of  practising  medicine  as  a  work  of  charity  and 
benevolence.     He  began,  as  was  then. the  custom 'of 
the  time,  by  studying  the  art  of  liealing  in  the  'writ^. 
ings  of  the  ancients.     He  read  the  works  of.  Hippo- 
crates and  Galen  with  avidity  ;  and  made  himself 'A^ 
well  acquainted  with  their  opinions,  that  he  astonishtft 
all  the  medical  men  by  the  profundity  of  his  knoi^  . 
ledge.     But  as  his  taste  for  mysticism  was  insatial 
he   soon  became  disgusted  with  the  writings  of 
Greeks ;   an  accident  led  him  to  abandon  them .  fofi  • 
ever.     Happening  to  take  up  the  glove  of  a  .younjflV 
girl  afHicted  with  the  itch,  he  caught  that  dis^reeabldK 


VAN    IIELMONT   AKt)    THE    lAtRO-ClIEMiSTS.     181' 

disease.  The  Galenists  whom  he  consulted,  attributed 
it  to  the  combustion  of  the  bile,  and  the  saline  state  of 
the  phlegm.  They  prescribed  a  course  of  purgatives 
which  weakened  him  considerably,  without  effecting  a 
cure.  This  circumstance  disgusted  him  with  the  sys- 
tem of  the  humorists,  and  led  him  to  form  the  resolu- 
tion of  reforming  medicine,  as  Paracelsus  had  done. 
The  works  of  this  refomier,  which  he  read  with  atten- 
tion, awakened  in  him  a  spirit' of  reformation,  but  did 
not  satisfy  him ;  because  his  knowledge,  being  much 
greater  than  that  of  Paracelsus,  he  could  not  avoid 
despising  the  disgusting  egotism,  and  the  ridiculous 
ignorance  of  that  fanatic.  Though  he  had.  already 
refused  a  canonicate,  he  took  the  degree  of  doctor  of 
medicine,  in  1599,  and  afterwards  travelled  through 
the  greatest  part  of  France  and  Italy ;  and  he  assures 
us,  that  during  his  travels,  he  performed  a  great  num- 
ber of  cures.  On  his  return,  he  married  a  rich  Bra- 
bantine  lady,  by  whom  he  had  several  children ;  among 
others  a  son,  afterwards  celiebrated  under  the  name  of 
Francis  Mercurius,  who  edited  his  father's  works,  and 
who  went  a  good  deal  further  than  his  father  had  done, 
in  all  the  branches  of  theosophy.  Van  Helmont  passed 
the  rest  of  his  life  on  his  estate  at  Vilvorde,  almost 
constantly  occupied  with  the  processes  of  his  labora- 
tory. He  died  in  the  year  1644,  on  the  13th  of  Decem- 
ber, at  six  o'clock  in  the  evening,  after  having  nearly 
reached  the  age  of  sixty-seven  years. 

The  system  of  Van  Helmont  has  for  its  basis  the 
opinions  of  the  spiritualists.  He  arranged  even  the 
influence  of  evil  genii,  the  efforts  of  sorcerers,  and  the 
power  of  magicians  among  the  causes  which  produce 
diseases.  -The  archeus  of  Paracelsus  constituted  one 
of  the  capital  points  of  his  theory ;  but  he  ascribed  to 
it  a  more  substantial  nature  than  Paracelsus  had  done. 
This  archeus  is  independent  of  the  elements ;  it  has 
no  form ;  for  form  constitutes  the  object  of  generation. 


I 


I 


182  BISTORT  or  CHCHTBTItT. 

or  of  production.  These  ideas  are  obviously  borrowed  ' 
from  the  ancients.  The  form  of  Aristotle  is  not  thft 
p>p#T,  but  the  ivip^iia  ((Ae  power  of  acting)  which' 
matter  does  not  possess. 

The  archeus  draws  all  the  corpuscles  of  matter  tO' 
the  aid  o1  fermentation.  Tliere  are,  properly  speak- 
ing, only  two  causes  of  things ;  the  cause  ex  qua^  and' 
the  cause  per  qiiam.  The  tirst  of  these  causes  \» 
water.  Van  Helmont  considered  water  as  the  true' 
principle  of  every  thing  which  exists ;  and  he  brought 
forward  very  specious  arguments  in  favour  of  his  o 
nion,  drawn  both  from  the  animal  and  veg^etable 
kingdom.  The  reader  will  find  his  arguments  on  the 
Subject,  in  his  treatise  entitled  "  Complexionum  atquef 
Mistionum  elementalium  Figmentum."*  The  only  ontf 
of  his  experiments  that,  in  the  present  state  of  ouf* 
knowledge,  possesses  much  plausibility,  is  the  follow 
ing' :  He  took  a  large  earthen  vessel,  and  put  into  it 
200  lbs.  of  earth,  previously  dried  in  an  oven,  Thi» 
earth  he  moistened  with  rain-water,  and  planted  in  it' 
a  willow  which  weighed  five  pounds.  After  an  inter- 
val of  five  years,  he  pulled  up  his  willow  and  found' 
that  its  weight  amounted  to  169  pounds,  and  aboulT 
three  ounces.  During  these  five  years,  the  earth  in' 
the  pot  was  duly  watered  with  rain  or  distilled  water.' 
To  prevent  the  earth  in  which  the  willow  grew  firom' 
being  mixed  with  new  earth  blown  upon  it  by  tha 
winds,  the  pot  was  covered  with  tin  plate,  pierced- witto 
a  great  number  of  holes  to  admit  the  air  freely.  The 
leaves  which  fell  every  autumn  during  the  vegetatioit 
of  the  willow  in  the  pot,  were  not  reckoned  in  th* 
169  lbs.  3oz-  The  earth  in  the  pbt  being  again  drie4 
in  the  oven,  was  found  to  have  lost  about  two  ounce9 
of  its  original  weight.     Thus  1641b8.  of  wood,  barl^ 

•  J.  B.  Van  Helmont,  Opera  Omnia,  p.  100.  Theedition  which 
Iqnote  from  was  printed  at  Frankfort,  in  1fiS2,  at  the  expenKU 
Ji^m  JuatDS  Erjithropilus,  in  a  very  thick  quarto  volume. 


TAN   HELMOST    AMD   THE   IATR0-CHEMIST9,     183 

roots,  &c.,  were  produced  from  water  alone."  This, 
and  several  other  experiments  whicli  it  is  needless  to 
state,  satisfied  him  tliat  all  vegetable  substances  are 
produced  from  water  alone.  He  takes  it  for  granted 
that  fish  live  (ultimately  at  least)  on  water  atone ;  but 
they  contain  almost  all  the  pecidiar  animal  substances 
that  exist  in  the  animal  kingdom.  Hence  he  concludes 
that  animal  substances  are  derived  also  from  pure 
water.f  His  reasoning  with  respect  to  sulphur,  glass, 
stone,  metals,  &c.,  all  of  which  he  thinks  may  ulti- 
mately be  resolved  into  water,  is  not  so  satisfactory. 

Water  produces  elementary  earth,  or  pure  quaitz ; 
"but  this  elementary  earth  does  not  enter  into  the  com- 
position of  organic  bodies.  Van  Helmont  excludes 
fire  from  the  number  of  elements,  because  it  is  not  a 
substance,  nor  even  the  essential  form  of  a  substance. 
The  matter  of  fire  is  compound,  and  differs  entirely 
from  the  matter  of  light.  Water  gives  origin  also  to 
the  three  chemical  principles,  salt,  sulphur,  and  mer- 
cury, which  cannot  be  considered  as  elements  or  active 
principles.  I  do  not  see  clearly  how  lie  gets  rid  of 
air ;  for  he  says,  that  though  water  may  be  elevated  in 
the  form  of  vapour,  yet  that  these  vapours  are  no  more 
air  than  the  dust  of  marble  is  water. 

According  to  Van  Helmont,  a  particular  disposition 
of  matter,  or  a  particular  mixture  of  that  matter  is  not 
necessary  for  the  formation  of  a  body.  The  arcbeus, 
by  its  sole  power,  draws  all  bodies  from  water,  when 
the  ferment  estists.  This  yermenf,  in  its  quality  of  a 
mean  which  determines  the  action  of  the  archeus,  is 
not  a  formal  being ;  it  can  neither  be  called  a  mb- 
stance,  nor  an  accident.  It  pre-exists  in  the  seed  which 
is  developed  by  it,  and  which  contains  in  itself  a  second 
ferment  of  the  seed,  the  product  of  the  first.  The 
ferment  exhales  an  odour,  which  attracts  the  generat- 
ing spirit  of  the  archeus.  This  spirit  consists  in  an 

■  VuL  Helmont,  Opera  Omtua,  p.  101,       f  Ibid.,  p,  105, 


,184  HISTO&T  OF  CHEMISTBY. 

aura  vi^aZt^,  and  it  create  the  bodies  of  nature  in  its 
own  image,  after  its  own  idea.  It  is  the  true  founda- 
tion of  life,  and  of  all  the  functions  of  organized 
bodies ;  it  disappears  only  at  the  instant  of  death  to 
produce  a  new  creation  of  the  body,  which  enters  then, 
for  the  second  time,  into  fermentation.  The  seed,  then, 
is  not  indispensable  to  enable  an  animal  to  propagate 
its  species;  it  is  merely  necessary  that  the  archeus 
should  act  upon  a  suitable  ferment.  Animals  pro- 
duced in  this  manner  are  as  perfect  as  those  which 
spring  from  eggs. 

When  water,  as  an  element,  ferments,  it  develops 
a  vapour,  to  which  Van  Helmont  gave  the  name  of 
gasy  and  which  he  endeavours  to  distinguish  from  air. 
This  gas  contains  the  chemical  principles  of  the  body 
from  which  it  escapes  in  an  aerial  form  by  the  impulse 
of  the  archeus.  It  is  a  substance  intermediate  between 
spirit  and  matter,  the  principle  of  action  of  life,  and  of 
generation  of  all  bodies ;  for  its  production  is  the  first 
result  of  the  action  of  the  vital  spirit  on  the  torpid 
ferment,  and  it  may  be  compared  to  the  chaos  of  th^ 
ancients. 

The  term  gas^  now  in  common  use  among  chemists, 
and  applied  by  them  to  all  elastic  fluids  which  differ  ia 
their  properties  from  common  air,  was  first  employed 
by  Van  Helmont :  and  it  is  evident,  from  different^ 
parts  of  his  writings,  that  he  was  aware  that  difFereotL 
species  of  gas  exist.     His  gas  sylvestre  was  evidently*, 
our  carbonic  acid  gas,  for  he  says,  that  it  is  evolvedf 
during  the  fermentation  of  wine  and  beer;  that  it  flp 
formed  when  charcoal  is  burnt  in  air ;  and  that  it  exiate 
in  the  Grotto  del  Cane.     He  was  aware  that  this  gaiif-, 
extinguishes  a  lighted  candle.     But  he  says  that  thtf  - 
gases  from  dung,  and  those  formed  in  the  large  intet^v 
tines,  when  passed  through  a  candle,  catch  fire,  aali 
exhibit  a  variety  of  colours,  like  the  rainbow.*   -Tit 

u*  De  Flatibus,  sect.  49.    Opera  Van  Helmont,  p.  405.  u 


VAN   H£L]|ONT   AND   THE  lATRO-CHEMISTS.      185 

these  combustible '  gases  he  gave  the  names  of  gas 
pingu€j'gas  siccum,  gas  Juliginosum,  or  endimicum. 
. .  Sal  ammoniac,  he  says,  may  be  distilled  alone,  with- 
out danger,  and  so  may  aqua  fortit  (aqua  chrysulca)^ 
but  if  they  be  mixed  together  so  much  gas  sylvestre 
is  -produced,  that  the  vessels  employed,  however 
strong,  will  burst  asunder,  unless  an  opening  be  left 
for  the  escape  of  this  gas.*  In  the  same  way  cream 
of  tartar  cannot  be  distilled  in  close  vessels  without 
breaking  them  in  pieces,  an  opening  must  be  left 
for.  the  escape  of  the  ga^  sylvestre y  which  is  gene- 
rated in  such  abundance.f  He  says,  also,  that  when 
carbonate  of  lime  is  dissolved  in  distilled  vinegar,  or 
silver  in  nitric  acid,  abundance  of  gas  sylvestre  is 
extricated.  From  these,  and  many  other  passages 
which  might  be  quoted,  it  is  evident  that  Van  Hel- 
mont  was  aware  of  the  evolution  of  gas  during  the 
solution  of  carbonates  and  metals  in  acids,  and  during 
the  distillation  of  various  animal  and  vegetable  sub- 
stances, that  he  had  anticipated  the  experiments  made 
so  many  years  after  by  Dr.  Hales,  and  for  which  that 
philosopher  got  so  much  credit.  But  it  would  be 
going  too  far  to  say,  as  some  have  done,  that  Van 
Helmont  knew  accurately  the  differences  which  cha- 
racterize the  different  gases  which  he  produced,  or 
indeed  that  he  distinguished  accurately  between  them. 
For  it  is  evident,  from  the  passages  quoted  and  from 
many  others  which  occur  in  his  treatise,  De  Flatibus, 
that  carbonic  acid,  protoxide  of  azote,  and  deutoxide 
of  azote,  and  probably  also  muriatic  acid  gas  were 
all  considered  by  him  as  constituting  one  and  the 
same  gas.  •  How,  indeed,  could  he  distinguish  be- 
tween different  gases  when  he  was  not  acquainted 
with  the  method  of  collecting  them,  or  of  determining 
their  properties?.  These  observations  of  Van  Hel- 
mont, then,  though  they  do  him  much  credit,^ and 

•.  Ibid.,  p.  408.  "  t  Ibid.,  p.  409. 


18S  HISTORY  OF  CHEMlSTltY. 

show  how  far  his  chemical  knowledge  was  superior 
to  that  of  the  age  in  which  he  lived,  take  nothing 
from  the  merit  or  the  credit  of  those  illustrious  che- 
mists who,  in  the  latter  half  of  the  eighteenth  century, 
devoted  themselves  to  the  investigation  of  this  part 
of  chemistry,  at  that  time  attended  with  much  diffi- 
culty, but  intimately  connected  with  the  subsequent 
progress  which  the  science  has  made. 

Van  Helmont  was  aware,  also,  that  the  bulk  of 
air  is  diminished  when  bodies  are  burnt  in  it.  He 
considered  respiration  to  be  necessary  in  this  way  J 
the  air  was  drawn  into  the  blood  by  the  pulmonary 
arteries  and  veins,  and  occasioned  a  fermentation  id 
it  requisite  for  the  continuance  of  life. 

Gas,  according  to  Van  Helmont,  has  an  affinity 
with  the  principle  of  the  movement  of  the  stars,  to. 
which  he  gave  the  name  of  hlas.  It  had,  he  sup*, 
posed,  much  influence  on  all  sublunary  bodies.  He- 
admitted  in  the  ferment  which  gives  birth  to  plants, 
a  substance  which,  after  the  example  of  Paracelsus^, 
he  called  pessas,  and  to  the  metallic  ferment  he  gaT^ 
the  name  of  bur.*  :: 

The  archeus  of  Van  Helmont,  like  that  of  Paraflb 
celsus,  has  its  seat. in  the  stomach.  It  is  the  samel 
thing  as  the  sentient  soul.  This  notion  of  the  natmi^ 
and  seat  of  the  archeus  was  founded  on  the  foUowinjip 
experiment:  He  swallowed  a  quantity  o£  'aconitumt 
(henbane).  In  two  hours  he  experienced  the  mo^ 
disagreeable  sensation  in  his  stomach.  His  feeli 
and  understanding  seemed  to  be  concentrated  in 
Organ,  for  he  had  no  longer  the  free  use  of  his  m^nl 
faculties.  This  feeling  iiiduced  him  to  place  llie  mA 
of  understanding  in  tiie  stomach,  of  volition  in  1|li|| 

*  In  his  Magnum  Oportet,  s6ct.  39,  p.  151,   lie  g^vct  ■■ 
account  of  the  origin  of  metals  in  the  earth,  and  ^n  that  sfsoti 
there  is  a  description  of  bur,  which  those  who  are  anxiouft 
imderst(^ftd  the  .ideas  of  the  author  on  t)u8  snlject  may  ci 
suit.      -  r  .....     ^ 


VAH  HELMOKt  AVD  tH£  lATEO-CHEMISTS.     187 

hearty  and  of  memory  in  the  brain.  The  faculty  of 
desire,  to  which  the  ancients  had  assigned  the  liver 
id  its  organ,  he  placed  in  the  spleen.  What  con- 
finned  him  still  more  in  the  idea  that  the  stomach  is 
the  seat  of  the  soul,  is  the  fact,  that  life  sometimes 
continues  after  the  destruction  of  the  brain,  but  never, 
■he  alleges,  after  that  of  the  stomach.  The  sentient 
soul  acts  constantly  by  means  of  the  vital  spirits^ 
which  are  of  a  resplendent  nature,  and  the  nerves 
serwe  merely  to  moisten  these  spirits  which  constitute 
the  mediums  of  sensation.  By  virtue  of  the  archeus 
man  is  much  nearer  to  the  realm  of  spirits  and  the 
fisiyier  of  all  the  genii,  than  to  the  world.  He  thinks 
that  Paracelsus's  constant  comparison  of  the  human 
body  with  the  world  is  absurd.  Yet  Van  Helmont, 
at  least  in  his  youth,  was  a  believer  in  magnetism, 
which  he  employed  as  a  method  of  explaining  the 
efiect  of  sympathy. 

Hie  archeus  exercises  the  greatest  influence  on 
digestion,  and  he  has  chiefly  the  stomach  and  spleen 
under  his  superintendence.  These  two  organs  form  a 
duumvirate  in  the  body;  for  the  stomach  cannot  act 
alone  and  without  the  concurrence  of  the  spleen. 
Digestion  is  produced  by  means  of  an  acid  liquor, 
which  dissolves  the  food,  under  the  superintendence 
ci  the  archeus.  Van  Helmont  assures  us  that  he  had 
himself  tasted  this  acid  liquor  in  the  stomach  of  birds. 
Heat,  strictly  speaking,  does  not  favour  digestion; 
for  we  see  no  increase  of  the  digestive  powers 
during  the  most  ardent  fever.  Nor  are  the  powers 
of  digestion  wanting  in  fishes,  although  they  want 
the  animal  heat  which  is  requisite  for  mammiferous 
animals.  Certain  birds  even  digest  fragments  of  glass, 
which,  certainly,  simple  heat  would  not  enable  them 
to  do.  The  pylorus  is,  in  some  measure,  the  director 
of  digestion.  It  acts  by  a  peculiar  and  immaterial 
power,  in  virtue  of  a  bias,  and  not  as  a  muscle.  It 
opens  and  shuts  the  stomach  accordmg  to  the  orders 


188      .  HISTORY    OF  CHEMISTRY. 

of  the  archeus.     It  is  in  it,  therefore,  that  the  causes 
of  derangement  of  digestion  must  be  sought  for. 

The  duumvirate  just  spoken  of  is  the  cause  of 
natural  sleep,  which  does  not  belong  to  the  soul, 
as  far  as  it  resides  in  the  stomach.  Sleep  is  a  natural 
action,  and  one  of  the  first  vital  actions.  Hence  the 
reason  why  the  embryo  sleeps  without  ceasing.  At 
any  rate  it  is  not  true  that  sleep  is  owing  to  vapours 
which  mount  to  the  brain.  During  sleep  the  soul 
is  naturally  occupied,  and  it  is  then  that  the  deity 
approaches  most  intimately  to  man.  Accordingly, 
Van  Helmont  informs  us,  that  he  received  in  dreams, 
the  revelation  of  several  secrets,  which  he  could  not 
have  learnt  otherwise. 

The   duumvirate  operates  the  first  digestion,   of    ■ 
which.  Van  Helmont  enumerates  six  diflferent  species.    '\ 
When  the   acid,   which   is  prepared    for  digestion,    • 
passes  into  the  duodenum  it  is  neutralized  by  the    " 
bile  of  the  gall-bladder.     This  constitutes  the  second    \ 
digestion.     To  the  bile  of  the  gall-bladder,  Van  Hel- 
mont gave  the  name  of  fel,  and  he  carefully  dis-    -■ 
tinguished  it  from  the  biliary  principle  in  the  mass 
of  the  blood.     This  last  he  called  bile.     The  fel  is 
not  an  excrementitious  matter,  but  a  humour  ne- 
cessary to  life,  a  true  vital  balsam.     Van  Helmont 
endeavoured  to  show  by  various  experiments  that  it^; 
is  not  bitter,  .  .a 

.   The  'third  digestion  takes  place  in  the  vessels  ojfj^ 
the  mesentery,  into  which  the  gall-bladder  sends  tlif^  r 
prepared  fluid.     The  fourth  digestion  is  operated  yg^^ 
the  heart,  where  the  red  blood  becomes  more  yelloi|^ 
and  more  volatile  by  the  addition  of  the  vital  spiritjf^^j 
This  is  owing  to  the  passage  of  the  vital  spirit  froq^'ij 
the  posterior  to  the  anterior  ventricle,  through  tlM^«^ 
pores  of  the  septum.     At  the  same  time  the  pulaoi: " 
is  produced,  which  of  itself  develops  heat ;  but  do^ 
not  regulate  it  in  any  manner,  as  the  ancients  prie 
tended  that  it  did.    l\it  fifth  digestion  consists  in  tlk 

■  i 


VAN   HELMOKT   AND  THE   lATRO-CHEMISTS.      189 

nversion  of  the  arterial  blood  into  vital  spirit.  It 
kes  place  principally  in  the  brain,  but  is  produced 
U>  throughout  all  the  body.  The  sixth  digestion 
nsists  in  the  elaboration  of  the  nutritive  principle 
each  member,  where  the  archeus  prepares  its  own 
ittrishment  by  means  of  the  vital  spirits.  Thus, 
ere  are  six  digestions:  the  number  seven  has  been 
osen  by  nature  for  a  state  of  repose. 
From  the  preceding  sketch  of  the  physiology  of 
m  Helmont,  it  is  evident  that  he  paid  little  or  no 
^di  to  the  structure  of  the  parts  in  explaining 
B- functions.  In  his  pathology  we  find  the  same 
^ioQ  for  spiritualism.  He  admitted,  indeed,  the 
^rtance  of  anatomy,  but  he  regretted  that  the 
thological  part  of  that  science  had  been  so  little 
Itivated.  As  the  archeus  is  the  foundation  of  life 
d  of  all  the  functions,  it  is  plain  that  the  diseases 
n^  neither  be  derived  from  the  four  cardinal 
imours,  nor  from  the  disposition  or  the  action  of 
»p6&ite  things ;  the  proximate  cause  of  diseases  must 
i"«aught  for  in  the  sufferings,  the  anger,  the  fear, 
d,the  other  affections  of  the  archeus,  and  their 
mote,  cause  may  be  considered  as  the  ideal  seed 
.Ihe  •  archeus.  Disease,  in  his  opinion,  is  not  a 
:gative  state  or  a  mere  absence  of  health,  it  is  a 
bstantial  and  active  thing  as  well  as  a  state  of 
lalth.  Most  of  the  diseases  which  attack  certain 
trts  or  members  of  the  body  result  from  an  error 

the  archeus,  who  sends  his  ferment  from  the 
wnach  in  which  he  resides  into  the  other  parts  of 
e  body.  Van  Helmont  explained  in  this  way  not 
tly  the  epilepsy  and  madness,  but  likewise  the  gout, 
lich  does  not  proceed  from  a  flux,  and  has  not 
1  seat  in  the  limb  in  which  the  pain  resides,  but 
always  owing  to  an  error  in  the  vital  spirit.  It 
true  that  the  character  of  the  gout  acts  upon  the 
men  in  which  the  vital  spirit  principally  manifests 

action,  and  that  in  this  way  diseases  are  pro- 


a  the  act  of  generation;  but  if,  during  '( 
instead  of  altering  the  semen  it  is  carried  to^ 
liquid  of  the  articulations,  this  is  a  proof  of.^ 
prudence  of  nature,  which  lavishes  all  tier  carea| 
the  preservation  of  the  species,  and  loves  bettail 
alter  the  humours  of  the  articulations  than  the  am 
itself.  The  gout  acidifies  the  liquors  of  the  arti 
latioDs,  which  is  then  copulated  by  the  acids.  4 
duumvirate  is  the  cause  of  apoplexy,  vertigo,  | 
particularly  of  a  species  of  asthma,  which  Van  fl 
mont  calls  caducus  jmlmonalis.  Pleurisy  is  i 
duced  in  a  similar  way.  The  archeus,  in  a  moved 
of  rage,  sends  acrid  acids  to  the  lungs,  which  q| 
sion  au  inflammation.  Dropsy  is  also  owing  toJ 
anger  of  the  archeus,  who  prevents  the  secretioM 
the  kidneys  from  going  on  in  the  usual  'way.  i 

Of  all  the  diseases,  fever  appeared  to  him  most  ■ 
formable  to  his  notions  of  the  unlimited  power  on 
archeus.  The  causes  of  fever  are  all  much  a 
proper  to  offend  the  archeus,  than  to  alter  the  M 
ture  of  parts  and  the  mixture  of  humours.  The  i 
fit  is  owing  to  a  state  of  fear  and  consternation,! 
which  the  archeus  is  thrown,  and  the  hot  stage  i«fl 
from  his  disordered  movements.  All  fevers  luive  B 
peculiar  seat  in  the  duumvirate.  i 

Van  Helmont  was  in  general  much  more  succei 
in  refuting  the  scholastic  opinions  by  which  the  pral 
of  medicine  was  regulated  in  his  time,  than  in  estafal 
ing"  his  own.  We  are  struck  with  the  force  of  Ul 
guments  against  the  Galenical  doctrine  of  feven 
against  the  influence  of  the  cardinal  humours  tm 
different  kinds  of  fever.  He  refuted  no  less  vebeiBB 
the  Idea  of  the  putridity  of  the  blood,  while  that  M 
circulates  in  the  vessels.  Perhaps  he  carried  tfafl 
posite  doctrine  too  far ;  but  his  opinions  have  n 
good  effect  upon  subsequent  medical  theory,  aa« 
dical  men  learned  from  them  to  make  less  use  of 
term  putridity.    The  phrase  mixture  of  humourm 


VAV  HELX019T  AND  THE  lATRO-CHEMISTS.    191 

aore  intelligible^  however^  came  to  be  substituted 
fcrit 

Van  Helmont's  theory  of  urinary  calculi  deserved 
peculiar  attention,  because  it  exhibits  the  germ  of  a 
iDore  rational  explanation  of  these  concretions  than 
hd  been  previously  attempted  by  physiologists.  Van 
Belmont  was  aware  that  Paracelsus,  who  ascribed 
ttese  concretions  to  tartar,  had  formed  an  idea  of 
tbeir  nature,  which  a  careful  chemical  analysis  would 
ttkinediately  refute.  He  satisfied  himself  that  urinary 
calculi  differ  completely  from  common  stones,  and 
that  they  do  not  exist  in  the  food  or  drink  which  the 
calculous  person  had  taken.     Tartar,  he  says,  preci- 

Etates  from  wine,  not  as  an  earth,  but  as  a  crystal- 
Jed  salt.  In  like  manner,  the  natural  salt  of  urine 
precipitates  from  that  liquid,  and  gives  origin  to  cal- 
cSL  We  may  imitate  this  natural  process  by  mixing 
spirit  of  urine  with  rectified  alcohol.  Immediately  an 
offa  alba  is  precipitated. 

It  is  needless  to  observe  that  Van  Helmont  was 
mistaken,  in  supposing  that  this  offa  was  the  matter 
of  calculus.  Spirit  of  urine  was  a  strong  solution  of 
carbonate  of  ammonia.  The  alcohol  precipitated  this 
*alt ;  so  that  his  offa  was  merely  carbonate  of  ammo- 
nia. Nor  is  there  the  shadow  of  evidence  that  alcohol, 
as  Van  Helmont  thought  it  did,  ever  makes  its  way 
into  the  mass  of  humours  ;  yet  his  notion  of  the  origin 
of  calculi  is  not  less  accurate,  though  of  course  he 
Was  ignorant  of  the  chemical  nature  of  the  various 
substances  which  constitute  these  calculi.  From  this 
reasoning  Van  Helmont  was  induced  to  reject  the 
term  tartar,  employed  by  Paracelsus.  To  avoid  all 
fiJse  interpretations  he  substitutes  the  word  duelechy 
to  denote  the  state  in  which  the  spirit  of  urine  precipi- 
tates and  gives  origin  to  these  calculous  concretions. 

As  all  diseases  proceeded  in  his  opinion  from  the 
aicheus,  the  object  of  his  treatment  was  to  calm  the 
'ircheusy  to  stimulate  it,  and  to  regulate  its  movements. 


192  HISTORY  OF  CHEMISTRY. 

To  accomplish  these  objects  he  relied  upon  dietetics; 
and  upon  acting  on  the  imaginations  of  his  patients. 
He  considered  certain  words  as  very  efficacious  in 
curing  the  diseases  of  the  archeus.  He  admitted  the 
existence  of  the  universal  medicine,  to  which  he  gave 
the  names  of  liquor  alkahest,  ens  primwin  salium, 
primus  metallus.  Mercurials,  antimonials,  opium, 
and  wine,  are  particularly  agreeable  to  the  archeusy 
when  in  a  state  of  delirium  from  fever. 

Among  the  mercurial  preparations,  he  praises  what 
he  calls  me,rcurius  diaphoreticus  as  the  best.  He 
gives  no  account  of  the  mode  of  preparing  it;  but 
from  some  circumstances .  I  think  it  must  have  been 
calomel,  .  He  considers  it  as  a  sovereign  remedy 
in  fevers,  dropsies,  diseases  of  the  liver,  and  ulcers  of  * 
the  lungs.  He  employed  the  red  oxide  of  mercury  , 
as  an  external  application  to  ulcers.  The  principal 
antimonial  preparations  which  he  employed  were  the 
hydrosulphuret,  or  golden  sulphur,  and  the  deutoxide, 
or  antimonium  diaphoreticum.  This  last  medicine 
was  used  in  scruple  doses — a  proof  of  its  great  inert- 
ness compared  with  the  protoxide  of  antimony. 

Opium  he  considered  as  a  fortifying  and  calming 
medicine.  It  contains  an  acrid  salt  and  a  bitter  oil, 
which  give  it  the  virtue  of  putting  a  stop  to  the  errors 
of  the  archeus,  when  it  was  sending  its  acid  ferment 
into  other  acid  parts  of  the  body.  Van  Helmont  as- 
sures us  that  he  wrought  many  important  cures  by  the 
employment  of  wine. 

Such  is  a  very  short  statement  of  the  opinions  of  a 
man,  who,  notwithstanding  his  attachment  to  the  fa^ 
natical  opinions  which  distinguished  the  time  in  which 
he  lived,  had  the  merit  of  overturning  a  vast  number 
of  errors,  both  theoretical  and  practical ;  and  of  laying 
down  many  principles,  which,  for  want  of  erudition^ 
have  been  frequently  assigned  to  modern  writers.  Vaa  -. 
Helmoiit  has  been  frequently  placed  on  the  same  level  ^ 
with  Paracelsus,  and  treated  like  him  with  contemplf  :fl 


VAK   HELMOlrr   AND   THE   lAtRO-CHEMISTS.    193 

Ibt  Ub  claims  upon  the  medical  world  are  much 
ikiglier,  and  his  merits  infinitely  greater.  His  notions, 
kis  truCy  were  fanatical ;  but  his  erudition  was  great, 
Ul  understanding  excellent,  and  his  industry  indefati- 
|tHe.  His  writings  did  not  become  known  till  rather 
(late  period;  for,  with  the  exception  of  a  single  tract, 
they  were  not  published  till  1648,  by  his  son,  after  his 
death. 

The  decided  preference  given  to  chemical  medicines 
by  Van  Helmont,  and  the  uses  to  which  he  applies 
chemical  theory,  had  a  natural  tendency  to  raise  che-> 
mistry  to  a  higher  rank  in  the  eyes  of  medical  men 
tkta  it  had  yet  reached.     But  the  man  to  whom  the 
eiedit  of  founding  the  iatro-chemical  sect  is  due,  is 
Francis  de  le  Boe  Sylvius,  who  was  born  in  the  year 
1614.  While  a  practitioner  of  medicine  at  Amsterdam, 
he  studied  with  profound  attention  the  system  of  Van 
Helmont,  and  the  rival  and  much  more  popular  theory 
of  Descartes  :  upon  these  he  founded  his  own  theory, 
which,  'in  reality,  contains  little  entitled  to  the  name 
of  original,  notwithstanding  the  tone  in  which  he 
speaks  of  it,  and  his  repeated  declarations  that  he  had 
borrowed  from  no  one.     He  was  appointed  professor 
of  the  theory  and  practice  of  medicine  in  the  University 
of  Leyden,  where  he  taught  with  such  eclat,  and  drew 
after  him  so  great  a  number  of  pupils,  that  Boerhaave 
alone  surpassed  him  in  this  respect.     It  was  he  that 
first  introduced  the  practice  of  giving  clinical  lectures 
in  the  hospitals,  on  the  cases  treated  in  the  presence 
of  the  pupils.     This  admirable  innovation  has  been 
productive  of  much  benefit  to  medicine.     He  greatly 
promoted  anatomical  studies,  and  inspected,  himself,  a 
vast  number  of  dead  bodies.    This  is  the  more  re- 
markable, because  his  own  system,  like  that  of  Van 
Helmont,  from  whom  it  was  borrowed,  was  quite  in- 
dependent of  the  structure  of  the  parts. 
.   Every  thing  was  explained  by  him  according  to  the 
principles  of  chemistry ^  as  they  were  then  understood. 

VOL.  I.  o 


194  HISTORY  OP  CHEMISTRY. 

The  celebrity  of  the  university  in  which  he  taught, 
and  the  vast  number  of  his  pupils,  contributed  to 
spread  this  theory  into  every  part  of  the  world,  and  to 
give  it  an  eclat  which  is  really  surprising,  when  we 
consider  it  with  attention.  But  he  possessed  the 
talents  just  suited  for  securing  the  reception  of  his 
opinions  by  his  pupils  as  infallible  oracles,  and  of 
being  the  idol  of  the  university.  Yet  it  is  melancholy 
to  be  obliged  to  add,  that  few  persons  ever  more 
abused  the  favours  of  nature,  or  the  advantages  of 
situation  and  elocution. 

To  form  a  clear  idea  of  the  principles  of  this  founder 
of  iatro-chemistry,  we  have  only  to  call  to  mind  the 
ferments  of  Van  Helmont,  which  constitute  the  foun- 
dation-stone of  the  whole  system.  We  cannot,  says 
he,  conceive  a  single  change  in  the  mixture  of  the 
humours,  which  is  not  the  consequence  of  fermenta- 
tion ;  and  yet  he  assigns  to  this  fermentation  con- 
ditions which  are  scarcely  to  be  found  united  in  the 
living  body.  Digestion,  in  his  opinion,  is  a  true  fer- 
mentation produced  by  the  application  of  a  ferment. 
Like  Van  Helmont,  he  admits  a  triumvirate;  but  places 
it  in  the  humours ;  the  effervescence  or  fermentation  of 
which  enabled  him  to  explain  most  of  the  functions 
of  the  body.  Digestion  is  the  result  of  the  mixture  of 
the  saliva  with  the  pancreatic  juice  and  the  bile,  and 
the  fermentation  of  these  humours.  The  saliva,  as 
well  as  the  pancreatic  juice,  contains  an  aciduknis 
salt  easily  recognised  by  the  taste.  Here  Sylvius  de- 
rives advantage  from  the  experiments  of  Regnier  de 
Graaf  on  the  pancreatic  juice,  which  he  had  constantly 
found  acid. 

Sylvius,  who  affirmed  that  the  bile  contained  mu 
alkali,  united  with  an  oil  and  a  volatile  spirit,  supposst 
an  effervescence  from  the  union  of  the  alkali  of  thi 
bile  with  the  acid  of  the  pancreatic  juice,  and  thiafitw 
mentation  he  considered  as  the  cause  of  digesuoiu 
By  this  fermentation  the  chyle  is  produced,  which  f4^ 


TAir  RELMOn*  AVD  TB£  lATRO-CHEMISTS.   196 

Mdimg  dsedian  the  volatile  spirit  of  the  food  accom- 
panied by  an  ofi  and  an  alkali,  neutralized  by  a  weak 
acid.  The  blood  is  more  than  completed  {plus  quam 
perjieiiur)  in  the  spleen.  It  acquires  its  highest 
perfection  by  the  addition  of  a  certain  quantity  of 
wksl  spirits.  The  bile  is  not  drawn  from  the  blood 
in  the  liver,  but  pre-exists  in  the  circulating  fluid* 
It  mixea  with  that  fluid  anew  to  be  carried  to  the 
heart  together  with  the  lympky  equally  mixed  with  the 
Uood,  and  there  it  gives  origin  to  a  vital  fermentation. 
In  this  way  the  blood  becomes  the  centre  of  reunion 
of  all  the  humours  of  the  secretions,  which  mix  to* 
fpether  or  separate,  without  the  solids  taking  the  small- 
est  share  in  the  operations.  Indeed,  so  completely 
are  the  solids  banished  from  the  system  of  Sylvius  that 
he  attends  to  nothing  whatever  except  the  humours. 

The  formation  and  motion  of  the  blood  is  explained 
by  the  fermentation  of  the  oily  volatile  salt  of  the  bile, 
and  the  dulcified  acid  of  the  lymph,  which  develops 
the  vital  heat,  by  which  the  blood  is  attenuated  and 
becomes  capable  of  circulating.  This  vital  fire,  quite 
difierent  from  ordinary  fire  is  kept  up  in  its  turn  by 
the  uniform  mixture  of  the  blood.  It  attenuates  the 
hnmours,  not  because  it  is  heat  but  because  it  is  com- 
posed of  pyramids.  This  last  notion  is  obviously 
borrowed  from  Descartes,  just  as  the  fermentation 
in  the  heart,  as  the  cause  of  the  motion  of  the  blood, 
reminds  us  of  the  opinions  of  Van  Helmont. 

Sylvius  explains  the  preparation  of  the  vital  spirits 
in  the  encephalos  by  distillation,  and  he  finds  a  great 
resemblance  between  their  properties .  and  those  of 
spirit  of  wine.  The  nerves  conduct  these  spirits  to 
die  difierent  parts,  and  they  spread  themselves  in 
the  substance  of  the  organs  to  render  them  sensible. 
When  they  insinuate  themselves  into  the  glands  the 
addition  of  the  acid  of  the  blood  produces  a  liquid 
^alogous  to  naphtha,  which  constitutes  the  lymph* 
%mphy  then,  is  a  compound  of  the  vital  spirit  and 

o2 


196  HISTORY  OF  CHEMISTRY. 

the  acid  of  the  blood.  Milk  is  formed  in  the  mammse 
by  the  afflux  of  a  very  mild  acid,  which  gives  a  white 
colour  to  the  red  humour  of  the  blood. 

The  theory  of  the  natural  functions  was  no  less 
chemical.  Even  the  diseases  themselves  were  ex- 
plained upon  chemical  principles.  Sylvius  first  intro- 
duced the  word  acridity  to  denote  a  predominance  of 
the  chemical  elements  of  the  humours,  and  he  looked 
upon  these  acridities  as  the  proximate  cause  of  all 
diseases.  But  as  every  thing  acrid  may  be  referred  to 
one  or  other  of  two  classes,  acids  and  alkalies,  there 
are  only  two  great  classes  of  diseases ;  namely,  those 
proceeding  from  an  acid  acridity,  and  those  proceed- 
ing from  an  alkaline. 

Sylvius  was  not  altogether  ignorant  of  the  consti- 
tuent parts  of  the  animal  humours  ;  but  it  is  obvious,    j 
from  the  account  of  his  opinions  just  given,  that  this     ■ 
knowledge  was  very  incomplete ;  indeed  the  whole  of 
his   chemical  science  resolves   itself  into  a  compa-    ■ 
rison  of  the  humours  of  the  living  body  with  chemical 
liquids.     Perhaps  his  notions  respecting  such  of  the 
gasesy  as  he  had  occasion  to  observe,  were  somewhat   J 
clearer  than  those  of  Van  Helmont.     He  called  them 
halitus,  and  takes,  some  notice  of  their  different  che- 
mical properties,  and  states  the  influence  which  he 
supposes  them  to  exert  in  certain  diseases.  ^ 

In  the  human  body  he  saw  nothing  but  a  magna  of    'j 
humours  continually  in  fermentation,  distillation,  effer- 
vescence, or  precipitation ;  and  the  physician  was  de- 
graded by  him  to  the  rank  of  a  distiller  or  a  brewer. 

Bile  acquires  different  acridities,  when  bad  food,  - 
altered  air,  or  other  similar  causes  act  apon  the  body,  i 
It  becomes  acid  or  alkaline.  In  the  former  case  It 
thickens  and  occasions  obstructions ;  in  the  latter  it 
excites  febrile  heat ;  and  the  viscid  vapours  elevated 
from  it  are  the  cause  of  the  cold  fit  with  which  fevei 
commences.  All  acute  and  continued  fevers  haw 
their  origin  in  this  acridity  of  the  bile.    The  yiciooi 


VAK   HELMOKT  AKD   THE   IATR0-CHEMI8TS.    197 

mixture  of  the  bile  with  the  blood,  or  its  specific  acri* 
dity,  produces  jaundice,  which  is  far  from  being  al- 
ways owing  to  obstructions  in  the  liver.  The  vicious 
eflFervescence  of  the  bile  with  the  pancreatic  juice  pro- 
duces almost  all  other  diseases.  But  all  these  asser- 
tions of  Sylvius  are  unsupported  by  evidence. 

The  acid  acridity  of  the  pancreatic  juice,  and  the 
obstruction  of  the  pancreatic  ducts,  which  are  pro- 
duced by  it,  are  considered  by  him  as  the  cause  of 
intermittent  fevers.  When  the  acid  of  the  pancreatic 
iuice  acquires  still  more  acridity,  hypochondriasis  and 
nysteria  are  the  consequences  of  it.  If,  during  the 
morbid  effervescence  of  the  pancreatic  juice  with  the 
bile  an  acid  and  viscid  humour  arise,  the  vital  spirits 
of  the  heart  are  overwhelmed  during  a  certain  time. 
This  occasions  syncope,  palpitation  of  the  heart,  and 
other  nervous  affections. 

When  the  acid  acridity  of  the  pancreatic  juice  or  of 
the  lymph  (for  both  are  similar)  is  deposited  on  the 
nerves,  the  consequence  is  spasms  or  convulsions; 
epilepsy  in  particular  depends  upon  the  acrid  vapours 
produced  by  the  morbid  effervescence  of  the  pan- 
creatic juice  with  acrid  bile.  Gout  has  the  same  origin 
as  intermittent  fevers,  for  we  must  look  for  it  in  the 
obstruction  of  the  pancreas  and  the  lymphatic  glands, 
accompanied  with  an  acid  acridity  of  the  lymph. 
Rheumatism  is  owing  to  the  acrid  acid,  deprived  of 
the  oil  which  dulcifies  it.  The  smallpox  is  occasioned 
by  an  acid  acridity  in  the  lymph,  which  gives  origin 
to  the  pustules.  Indeed  all  suppuration  in  general 
IS  owing  to  a  coagulating  acid  in  the  lymph.  Sypl^ilis 
results  from  a  caustic  acid  in  the  lymph.  The  itch  is 
produced  by  an  acid  acridity  of  the  lymph.  Dropsies 
ate  produced  by  the  same  acid  acridity  of  the  lymph. 
Drinary  calculi  are  the  consequences  of  a  coagulating 
^id  existing  in  the  lymph  and  the  pancreatic  juice. 
Corrosive  acids,  and  the  loss  of  volatile  spirits/ 
occasion  leucorrhoea. 


198  KliTOET  or  CHBKISTKT* 

From  the  preceding  statement  it  would  appear  that 
almost  all  diseases  proceed  from  acids.  Howeyer, 
Sylvius  informs  us  that  malignant  fevers  are  owing  to 
a  superabundance  of  volatile  salts  and  to  a  too  great 
tenuity  of  the  blood.  The  vital  spirits  themselves  give 
occasion  to  diseases.  They  are  sometimes  too  aqueous, 
sometimes  they  effervesce  too  violently,  and  sometimes 
not  at  all.  Hence  all  the  nervous  diseases,  which 
Sylvius  never  considers  as  existing  by  themselves; 
but  as  always  derived  from  the  acid,  acrid,  or  alka^ 
line  vapours  which  trouble  the  vital  spirits. 

The  method  of  cure  which  Sylvius  deduced  from 
these  absurd  and  contemptible  hypotheses,  was  worthy 
of  the  h3rpotheses  themselves ;  and  certainly  constitute 
the  most  detestable  mode  of  treatment  that  ever  ha» 
disgraced  medical  science.  To  diseases  produced  by 
the  effervescence  of  the  bile  he  opposed  purgatives ; 
because  in  his  opinion  emetics  produced  injurious 
effects.  The  reason  was,  that  the  emetics  which  hd 
employed  were  too  violent,  consisting  of  antimonial 
preparations,  particularly  powder  of  Algerotti,  or  an 
impure  protoxide  of  antimony.  For  though  emetic 
tartar  had  been  discovered  in  1630,  it  does  not  seem 
to  have  come  into  use  till  a  much  later  period.  W%. 
do  not  find  any  notice  of  it  in  the  praons  ckymiatriM 
of  Hartmann  published  in  1647,  at  Greneva. 

He  endeavoured  to  moderate  the  acridity  of  the  bila 
by  opiates  and  other  narcotics.  It  will  scarcely  btc 
believed,  though  it  was  a  natural  consequence  of  hit 
opinions,  when  we  state  that  he  recommended  ammofi 
niacal  preparations,  particularly  his  oleaginous  volatile 
salt,  and  spirit  of  hartshorn,  &c.,  as  cures  for  almoit 
aU  diseases.  Sometimes  they  were  employed  to  cotU 
rect  the  acidity  of  the  lymph,  sometimes  to  destroy  tbt- 
acid  acridity  of  the  pancreatic  juice,  sometimes  tO 
correct  the  inertness  of  the  vital  spirits,  sometimes  tm 
promote  the  secretions,  and  to  induce  a  flow  of  ib» 
menses.    Volatile  spirit  of  amber  and  opium  wei# 


▼AX  HEIfMOVT  JOTD  THB  lATfMM^HEMISTS.    199 

prescribed  by  him  in  intennittent  fevers ;  and  volatile 
salts  in  almost  all  acute  diseases*  He  united  thetn 
vitk  antivenomous  potions,  angelica,  contrayerva,  be* 
loaid,  crabs'  eyes,  and  other  similar  substances.  These 
absorbents  seemed  to  him  very  necessary  to  correct 
the  acidity  of  the  pancreatic  juice,  and  the  acridity  of 
the  bile.  In  administering  them  he  paid  no  attention 
t^  the  regular  course  which  acute  diseases  usually 
run;  he  neither  inquired  into  the  remote  nor  proximate 
causes  of  disease,  nor  to  the  symptoms :  every  thin^ 
^vas  neglected  connected  with  induction,  and  hm 
whole  proceedings  regulated  by  wild  speculations  and 
ibgord  theories,  quite  inconsistent  with  the  phenomena 
nf  nature. 

.  To  attempt  to  refute  these  wild  notions  of  Sylvius 
would  be  loss  of  time.  It  is  extraordinary,  and  almost 
incredible^  that  he  could  have  regulated  his  practice 
by  them :  and  it  is  a  still  more  incredible  thing,  and 
exhibits  a  very  hiuniliating  view  of  human  nature, 
that  these  crudities  and  absurdities  were  swallowed 
with  avidity  by  crowds  of  students,  who  placed  a  blind 
reliance  on  the  dogmas  of  their  master,  and  were 
initiated  by  him  into  a  method  of  treating  their  patients, 
better  calculated  than  any  other  that  could  easily  have 
becm  devised^  to  aggravate  all  their  diseases,  and  put 
an  end  to  their  lives.  If  any  of  the  patients  of  the 
iatro-chemists  ever  recovered  their  health,  well  might 
it  be  said  that  their  recovery  was  not  the  consequence 
of  the  prescriptions  of  their  physicians,  but  that  it  took 
place  in  spite  of  them.* 

*  As  an  example  of  the  prescriptions  of  Sylvius,  wegivetbi 
foHowing  for  malignant  fever : 

B,  Theriac.  veter.  3!} 
Antim.  diaphor.  5J 

Syrup.  Card.  Benedic.jy  ' 

Aq.  prophylact.  ^ 

—  Cinnam.  Jss 

—  Scabios.  tij 

M.D. 


200  HISTORY  OF  CHEMISTRY. 

It  is  a  Tery  remarkable  circumstance,  and  shows 
clearly  that  mankind  in  general  had  become  disgusted 
with  the  dogmas  of  the  Galenists,  that  iatro-che* 
mistry  was  adopted  more  or  less  completely  by  almost 
all  physicians.  There  were,  indeed,  a  few  indivi- 
duals who  raised  their  voices  s^ainst  it;  but,  what 
is  curious  and  inexplicable,  they  never  attempted  to 
start  objections  against  the  pnnciples  of  the  iatro-* 
chemists,  or  to  point  out  the  futility  of  their  hypothe-™ 
sis,  and  their  inconsistency  with  fact.  They  com- 
bated them  by  ai^uments  not  more  solid  than  those  of 
their  antagonists. 

During  the  presidency  of  Riolan  over  the  Medical 
College  of  Paris,  that  learned  body  set  itself  against 
all  innovations.     Guy  Patin,  who  was  a  medical  pro<^ 
fessor  in  the  University  of  Paris,  and  a  man  of  great 
celebrity,  opposed  the  chemical  system  of  medicine 
with  much  zeal.     In  his  Martyrologium  Antimonii  he 
collects  all  the  cases  in  which  the  use  of  antimony,  at 
a  medicine,  had  proved  injurious  to  the  patient.     But 
in  the  year  1666,  the  dispute  relative  to  antimony^, 
and  particularly  relative  to  tartar  emetic,  became  siy 
violent,  that  all  the  doctors  of  the  faculty  of  Paruv 
were  assembled  by  an  order  of  the  parliament,  under 
the  presidency  of  Dean  Vignon,   and  after  a  longi 
deliberation,    it   was    concluded  by  a   majority    00 
ninety-two  votes,  that  tartar  emetic,-  and  other  aaw 
timonials,  should  not  only  be  permitted,  but  even  rMF^ 
commended.     Patin  after  this  decision  pretended  m( 
longer  to  combat  chemical  medicine;  but  he  did  no^ 
remain  inactive.    One  of  his  friends,  Francis  Blonddb 
demanded  the  resolution  to  be  cancelled ;  but  his  edk 
ertions  were  unsuccessful ;  nor  were  the  writings  40f 
Guillemeau  and  Menjot,  who  were  also  keen  partisanii 
of  the  views  of  Patin,  attended  with  better  success*^  oa. 

In  England  iatro-chemistry  assumed  a  direct}iM0 
quite  peculiar.  It  was  embraced  by  a  set  of  men  wldipEj 
bad  cultivated  anatomy  with  the  most  marked  succ8ti|^, 


VAN  HELICOKT  AlTD  THE  ZATRO-C&£MISTS.     1^01 

wad  who  were  quite  familiar  with  the  experimental 
method  of  investigating  nature.  The  most  eminent 
ef.  all  the  English  supporters  of  iatro-ehemistry  was 
lliomas  Willis,  who  was  a  contemporary  of  Sylvius. 

Dr.  Willis  was  bom  at  Great  Boidmin,  in  Wiltshire, 
IB  1621.  He  was  a  student  at  Christchurch  College, 
in  Oxford,  when  that  city  was  garrisoned  for  King 
Charies  I.  like  the  other  students,  he  bore  arms  for 
his  Majesty,  and  devoted  his  leisure  hours  to  the  study 
of  physic.  After  the  surrender  of  Oxford  to  the  par- 
fiament,  he  devoted  himself  to  the  practice  of  medi- 
cine, and  soon  acquired  reputation.  He  appropriated 
a  room  as  an  oratory  for  divine  service,  according  to 
Ae  forms  of  the  church  of  England,  to  which  most  of 
the  loyalists  of  Oxford  daily  resorted.  In  1660,  he 
became  Sedleian  professor  of  natural  philosophy,  and 
the  same  year  he  took  the  degree  of  doctor  of  physic. 
He  settled  ultimately  in  London,  and  soon  acquired 
a  higher  reputation,  and  a  more  extensive  practice, 
than  any  of  his  contemporaries.  He  died  in  1675, 
and  was  buried  in  Westminster  Abbey.  He  was  a 
first-rate  anatomist.  To  him  we  are  indebted  for  the 
first  accurate  description  of  the  brain  and  nerves. 

But  it  is  as  an  iatro-chemist  that  he  claims  a  place 
in  this  work.  His  notions  approach  nearer  to  those 
of  Paracelsus  than  to  the  hypotheses  of  Van  Helmont 
and  Sylvius.  He  admits  the  three  chemical  elements 
of  Paracelsus,  salt,  sulphur,  and  mercury,  in  all  the 
bodies  in  nature,  and  employs  them  to  explain  their 
properties  and  changes;  but  he  gives  the  name  of 
^pirit  to  the  mercury  of  Paracelsus.  He  ascribes  to 
it  the  virtue  of  volatilizing  all  the  constituent  parts  of 
iKKiies :  salt,  on  the  other  hand,  is  the  cause  of  fixity 
ia  bodies;  sulphur  produces  colour  and  heat,  and 
^ites  the  spirit  to  the  salt.  In  the  stomach  there 
occurs  an  acid  ferment,  which  forms  the  chyle  with 
the  sulphur  of  the  aliments :  this  chyle  enters  into 
^vescence  in  the  heart,  because  the  salt  and  suU 


202  BISTORY  OF  CHEMIST&T. 

phur  take  fire  together.  From  this  results  the  vital: 
flame,  which  penetrates  every  thing.  The  vital  spirits 
are  secreted  in  the  brain  by  a  real  distillation.  The 
vessels  of  the  testes  draw  an  elixir  from  the  constituent 
parts  of  the  blood ;  but  the  spleen  retains  the  earthy 
part,  and  communicates  a  new  igneous  ferment  to  the 
circulating  fluid.  On  this  account  the  blood  must  be 
considered  as  a  humour,  constantly  disposed  to  fer- 
mentation, and  in  this  respect  it  may  be  compared  to 
wine.  Every  himiour  in  which  salt,  sulphur,  and 
spirit  predominates  in  a  certain  manner,  may  be  con-, 
verted  into  a  ferment.  All  diseases  proceed  from  & 
morbid  state  or  action  of  this  ferment ;  and  a  physic 
cian  may  be  compared  to  a  wine-merchant ;  for,  lik& 
him,  he  has  nothing  to  do  but  to  watch  that  the  ne- 
cessary fermentations  take  place  with  regularity,  and 
that  no  foreign  substance  come  to  derange  the  ope« 
ration. 

At  this  period  the  mania  of  explaining  every  thing 
had  proceeded  to  such  a  length,  that  no  distinctioa 
was  made  between  dead  and  living  bodies.  The  che^ 
mical  facts  which  were  at  that  time  known,  were  ap-  - 
plied  without  hesitation  to  explain  all  the  functions 
and  all  the  diseases  of  the  living  body.  According  to 
Willis,  fever  is  the  simple  result  of  a  violent  and  pre^ 
tematural  effervescence  of  the  blood  and  the  othtr 
humours  of  the  body,  either  produced  by  external 
causes,  or  by  internal  ferments,  into  which  the  chyla 
is  converted  when  it  mixes  with  the  blood.  The  eSba* 
vescence  of  the  vital  spirits  is  the  source  of  quotidiana^ 
that  of  salt  and  sulphur  produces  continued  fever; 
and  external  ferments  of  a  malignant  nature  producas 
malignant  fevers.  Thus  the  smallpox  is  owing  to  tbs 
seeds  of  fermentation  set  in  activity  by  an  extemii 
principle  of  contagion.  Spasms  and  convulsions  M 
produced  by  an  explosion  of  the  salt  and  sulpfaov 
with  the  animal  spirits.  Hypochondriacal  afiectioat 
and  hysteria  depend  originally  on  the  morbid  putriftfli* 


VAW  HWMOBT  AITB  THIi   IAmO*CHEMISTS.   20? 

tion  of  the  blood  in  the  spleen,  or  on  a  bad  fenoentea- 
cible  principle,  loaded  with  salt  and  sulphur,  which 
nnitea  with  the  vital  spirits  and  deranges  them.  Scurvy 
is  owing  to  an  alteration  of  the  blood,  which  may  then 
be  compared  to  vapid  or  stale  wine.  The  gout  is 
merely  the  coagulation  of  the  nutritive  juices  altered 
by  the  acidified  animal  spirits ;  just  as  sulphuric  acid 
forms  a  coagulum  with  carbonate  of  potash. 

The  action  of  medicines  is  easily  explained  by  the 
^ects  which  they  produce  on  the  nourishing  principles. 
Badorifics  are  considered  as  cordials,  because  they 
augment  the  sulphur  of  the  blood,  which  is  the  true 
fiwa  of  the  vital  flame.  Cordials  purify  the  animai 
afHiits,  and  fix  the  too  volalJlc  blood.  Willis  dis- 
agrees with  the  other  iatro-cheniists  of  his  time  in  one 
magi  he  recommends  bleeding  in  the  greater  num- 
ber of  diseases,  as  an  excellent  method  of  diminishing 
unnatural  fermentation. 

Dr.  Croone,  a  celebrated  Fellow  of  the  Royal  So- 
dety,  was  another  English  iatro-chemist,  who  attempt- 
ed to  explain  muscular  motion  by  the  effervescence  of 
the  nervous  fluid,  or  animal  spirits. 

It  is  not  worth  while  to  notice  the  host  of  wrilers— 
I     Bngliah,  French,  Italian,  Dutch,  and  German,  who 

i  exerted  themselves  to  maintain,  improve,  and  defend, 
the  chemical  doctrines  of  medicine.  The  first  person 
who  attempted  to  overturn  these  absurd  doctrines, 
and  to  introduce  something  more  satisfactory  in  their 
idaee,  was  Mr.  Boyle,  at  that  time  in  the  height  of 
nil  celebrity. 
.  Robert  Boyle  was  bom  at  Youghall,  in  the  pro* 
'  Tince  of  Munster,  on  the  25th  of  January,  1627.  He 
^as  the  seventh  son,  and  the  fourteenth  child  of 
!iichard.  Earl  of  Cork.  He  was  partly  educated  at 
liome,  and  partly  at  Eton,  where  he  was  under  the 

(tuition  of  Sir  Henry  Wotton.  At  the  age  of  eleven, 
he  travelled  with  his  brother  and  a  French  tutor 
through  France  to  Geneva,  where  he   pursued  his 


204  HISTORY  OP  CHEMISTRY. 

Studies  for  twenty-one  months,  and  then  "went  to 
Italy.  During  this  period,  he  acquired  the  French 
and  Italian  languages ;  and,  indeed,  talked  in  the  for- 
mer with  so  much  fluency  and  correctness,'  that  he 
passed,  when  he  thought  proper,  for  a  Frenchman.  In 
1642,  his  father's  finances  were  deranged,  by  the 
breaking  out  of  the  great  Irish  rebellion.  His  tutor, 
who  was  a  Genevese,  was  obliged  to  borrow,  on  his 
own  credit,  a  sum  of  money  sufficient  to  carry  him 
home.  On  his  arrival,  he  found  his  father  dead ;  and, 
though  two  estates  had  been  left  to  him,  such  was  the 
state  of  the  times,  that  several  years  elapsed  before  he 
could  command  the  requisite  sum  of  money  to  supply 
his  exigencies.  He  retired  to  an  estate  at  Stalbridge^ 
in  Dorsetshire. 

In  1654  he  went  to  Oxford,  where  he  associated 
himself  with  a  number  of  eminent  men  (Dr.  Willis 
among  others),  who  had  constituted  themselves  into  a 
combination  for  experimental  investigations,  distin-^ 
guished  by  the  name  of  the  Philosophical  College* 
This  society  was  transferred  to  London ;  and,  in  1663ty 
was  incorporated  by  Charles  II.  under  the  name  of  the 
Royal  Society.  In  1668  Mr.  Boyle  took  up  his  re  • 
sidence  in  London,  where  he  continued  till  the  last  daj 
of  December,  1691,  assiduously  occupied  in  expen*, 
mental  investigations,  on  which  day  he  died,  in  the 
sixty-fifth  year  of  his  age.  ^  ,/^ 

We  are  indebted  to  Mr.  Boyle  for  the  first  introh* . 
duction  of  the  air-pump  and  the  thermometer  iiif(»- 
Britain,  and  for  contributing  so  much,  by  means  qj[ 
Dr.  Hooke,  to  the  improvement  of  both.     His  hydxo*. 
statical  and  pneumatical  investigations  and .  expei^ii* 
ments  constitute  the  foundation  of  these  two  sciences:' 
The  thermometer  was  first  made  an  accurate  insti^ 
ment  of  investigation  by  Sir  Isaac  Newton,  in  170^  ' 
This  he  did  by  selecting  as  two  fixed  points  the  teib- 
peratures  at  which  water  freezes  and  boils;  markiii|^«. 
these  upon  the  stem  of  the  thermometer,  and  diyiding* 


TAK   BELMONT  AKD  THE  lATRO-CHEMISTS.    205 

the  internal  between  them  into  a  certain  number  of  de- 
grees. All  thermometers  made  in  this  way  will  stand  at 
tiie  same  point  when  plunged  into  bodies  of  the  same 
temperature.  The  number  of  divisions  between  the  freez- 
ing and  boiling  points  constitute  the  cause  of  the  differ- 
ISBces  between  different  thermometers.  In  Fahrenheit's 
diermometer,  which  is  used  in  Great  Britain,  the  num- 
ber of  degrees,  between  the  freezing  and  boiling  points 
of  water,  is  1 80 ;  in  Reaumurs  it  is  80 ;  in  Celsius's,  or 
ibe  centigrade,  it  is  100  ;  and  in  De  Lisle's  it  is  150. 
But  my  reason  for  mentioning  Mr.  Boyle  here  was, 
the  attempt  which  he  made  in  1661,  by  the  publica- 
tion of  his  Sceptical  Chemist,  to  overturn  the  absurd 
0|Hnions  of  the  iatro-chemists.     He  raises  doubts,  not 
only  respecting  the  existence  of  the  elements  of  the 
Peripatetics,  but  even  of  those  of  the  chemists.     The 
first  elements  of  bodies,  in  his  opinion,  are  atoms,  of 
different  shapes  and  sizes ;  the  union  of  which  gives 
origin  to  what  we  vulgarly  call  elements.     We  cannot 
restrain  the  number  of  these  to  four,  as  the  Peripatetics 
do ;  nor  to  three,  with  the  chemists :  neither  are  they 
immutable,  but  convertible  into  each  other.     Fire  is 
not  the  means  that  ought  to  be  employed  to  obtain 
them  ;  for  the  salt  and  sulphur  are  formed  during  its 
action  by  the  union  of  different  simple  bodies. 
•    Boyle  shows,  besides,  that  the  chemical  theory  of 
qualities  is  exceedingly  inaccurate  and  uncertain ;  be- 
cause it  takes  for  granted  things  which  are  very  doubt- 
ful, and  in  many  cases  directly  contrary  to  the  pheno- 
mena of  nature.     He  endeavours  to  prove  the  truth  of 
these  ideas,  and  particularly  the  production  of  the 
chemical  principles,  by  a  great  number  of  convincing 
and  conclusive  experiments. 

In  another  treatise,  entitled  "  The  Imperfections  of 
the  Chemical  Doctrine  of  Qualities,"*  he  points  out,  in 
the  second  section,  the  insufficiency  of  the  hypotheses  of 

*  Shaw's  Boyle,  iu.  424. 


206  HIITORT  Of  CRIXIITKT. 

Sylriui  relative  to  the  generality  of  acids  and  alkalietk 
He  shows  that  the  offices  ascribed  to  them  are  arbitrary^ 
and  the  notions  respecting  them  unsettled ;  that  the 
hypotheses  respecting  them  are  needless,  and  insuffi- 
cient, and  afibrd  but  an  unsatisfactory  solution  of  the 
phenomena. 

These  arguments  of  Boyle  did  not  immediately  shake 
the  credit  of  the  chemical  system.  In  the  year  1691, 
a  chemical  academy  was  founded  at  Paris  by  Nicolas 
de  Blegny,  the  express  object  of  which  was  to  examine 
these  objections  of  Boyle,  which  by  this  time  had  at* 
tracted  great  attention.  Boyle's  experiments  were  re* 
peated  and  confirmed;  but  the  academicians,  not^ 
withstanding,  came  to  the  conclusion,  that  it  is  un- 
necessary to  have  recourse  to  the  true  elements  of 
bodies ;  and  that  the  phenomena  which  occur  in  the 
animal  economy  may  be  explained  by  the  predomi* 
nance  of  acids  or  alkalies.  Various  other  publications 
appeared,  all  on  the  same  side. 

In  Germany,  Hermann  Conringius,  the  most  skilM 
physician  of  his  time,  opposed  the  chemical  theory; 
and  his  opinions  were  impugned  by  Olaus  Borrichio8| 
who  defended  not  only  alchymy,  but  the  chemical 
theory  of  medicine,  with  equal  erudition  and  zeal.* 

Towards  the  end  of  the  sixteenth  century,  the  cho* 
mists  thought  of  examining  the  liquids  of  the  liyfaig 
body,  to  ascertain  whether  they  really  contained  thS' 
acids  and  alkalies  which  had  been  assigned  them,  and' 
considered  as  the  cause  of  all  diseases.  But  at  that 
time  chemistry  had  made  so  little  progress,  and  sudl 
was  the  want  of  skill  of  those  who  undertook  these  la^ 
vestigations,  that  they  readily  obtained  every  thiog^ 
that  was  wanted  to  confirm  their  previous  notionii^  j 
John  Viridet,  a  physician  of  Geneva,  announced  that 
he  had  found  an  acid  in  the  saliva  and  the  pancreatiii^ 
juice,  and  an  alkali  in  the  gastric  juice  and  the  }xiBf 


•  De  Orta  et  Profreita  Chcmxie.   ffajkia,  1674, 


1 


VAN   HELKOKT   AKD  THE  lATRO-CHEMISTS.     SO? 

But  the  most  celebrated  experiments  of  that  period 
were  those  of  Raimond  Vieussens,  undertaken  in  169Sj^ 
in  order  to  discover  the  presence  of  an  acid  spirit  in 
the  blood.  His  method  was,  to  mix  blood  with  a 
species  of  clay,  called  boUy  and  to  subject  the  mixture 
to  distillation,  He  found  that  the  liquid  distilled  ove? 
was  acid.  Charmed  with  this  discovery,  whrch  he  con- 
sidered as  of  first-rate  importance,  he  announced  it  by 
letter  to  the  different  academies  and  colleges  in  Eu- 
rope. Some  doubts  being  raised  about  the  accuracy 
of  his  experiment,  it  having  been  alleged  that  the  acid 
came  from  the  clay  which  he  had  mixed  with  the 
blood,  and  not  from  the  blood  itself,  Vieussens  puri- 
fied the  bole  from  all  the  acid  which  it  could  contain, 
and  repeated  his  experiment  again.  The  result  was 
the  same — the  acrid  salt  of  the  fluid  yielded  an  acid 
spirit. 

It  would  be  needless  in  the  present  state  of  ouf 
knowledge  to  point  out  the  inaccuracy  of  such  an 
experiment,  or  how  little  it  contributed  to  prove  that 
blood  contains  a  free  acid.  It  is  now  well  known  to 
chemists,  that  blood  is  remarkably  free  from  acids; 
and,  that  if  we  except  a  little  common  salt,  which  ex- 
ists in  all  the  liquids  of  the  human  body,  there  is  nei- 
ther any  acid  nor  salt  whatever  in  that  liquid. 

Michael  Ettmuller,  at  Leipsic,  who  was  a  chemist 
of  some  eminence  in  his  day,  and  published  a  small 
treatise  on  the  science,  which  was  much  sought  after, 
was  also  a  zealous  iatro-chemist ;  but  his  opinions 
were  obviously  regulated  by  the  researches  of  Boyle. 
He  denies  the  existence  of  acids  and  alkalies  in  cer* 
tain  bodies,  and  distinguishes  carefully  between  acid 
and  putrid  fermentation. 

One  of  the  most  formidable  antagonists  to  the  iatro- 
chemical  doctrines  was  Dr»  Archibald  Pitcaime,  first 
a  professor  of  medicine  in  the  University  of  Leyden, 
and  afterwards  of  Edinburgh,  and  one  of  the  most 
eminent  physicians  of  his  time.    He  was  born  in  Edixi- 


208  HISTORY  OF  CHEXISTRT. 

burgh,  on  the  26th  of  December,  1652.  After  finish- 
ing his  school  education  in  Dalkeith,  he  went  to  the 
University  of  Edinburgh,  where  he  improved  himself  in 
classical  learning,  and  completed  a  regular  course  of 
philosophy.  He  turned  his  attention  to  the  law,  and 
prosecuted  his  studies  with  so  much  ardour  and  inten- 
sity that  his  health  began  to  suffer.  He  was  advised 
to  travel,  and  set  out  accordingly  for  the  South  of 
France :  by  the  time  he  reached  Paris  he  was  so  far 
recovered  that  he  determined  to  renew  his  studies; 
but  as  there  was  no  eminent  professor  of  law  in  that 
city,  and  as  several  gentlemen  of  his  acquaintance 
were  engaged  in  the  study  of  medicine,  he  went  with 
them  to  the  lectures  and  hospitals,  and  employed  him- 
self in  this  way  for  several  months,  till  his  afiaurs  called 
him  home. 

On  his  return  he  applied  himself  chiefly  to  mathe- 
matics, in  which,  under  the  auspices  of  his  friend,  the 
celebrated  Dr.  David  Gregory,  he  made  uncommon 

Erogress.  Struck  with  the  charms  of  this  science,  and 
oping  by  the  application  of  it  to  medicine  to  reduce 
the  healing  art  under  the  rigid  rules  of  mathematical 
demonstration,  he  formed  the  resolution  of  devoting 
himself  to  the  study  of  medicine.  There  was  at  that 
time  no  medical  school  in  Edinburgh,  and  no  hospital 
at  which  he  could  improve  himself;  he  therefore  re- 
paired to  Paris,  and  devoted  himself  to  his  studies  with  ' 
a  degree  of  ardour  that  ensured  an  almost  unparal- 
leled success.  In  1680  he  received  from  tlie  faculty, 
of  Rheims  the  degree  of  doctor  of  medicine,  a  degree 
also  conferred  on  him  in  1699  by  the  University  of 
Aberdeen.  ..  ^ 

In  the  year  1691  his  reputation  was  so  high  thaf[' 
the  University  of  Leyden  solicited  him  to  fill  the  medical 
chair,  at  that  time  vacant ;  he  accepted  the  LnvitatioD|.  1 
and  delivered  a  course  of  lectures  at  Leyden,  whic)^ 
was  greatly  admired  by  all  his  auditors,  among  whom 
were  Boerhaave  and  Mead.    At  the  close  of  the  B^ih 


VAK  HELMONT  AKD  THE  IATE0-CHSMIST8.     209 

skm  he  set  out  for  Scotland,  to  marry  the  daughter 
of  Sir  Archibald  Stevenson :  his  friends  in  his  own 
country  would  not  consent  to  part  with  him,  and  thus 
he  was  reluctantly  obliged  to  resign  his  chair  in  the 
University  of  Leyaen . 

He  settled  as  a  physician  in  Edinburgh,  where  he 
was  appointed  titular  professor  of  medicine.  His 
practice  extended  beyond  example,  and  he  was  more 
consulted  by  foreigners  than  any  Edinburgh  physician 
either  before  or  after  his  time.  He  died  in  October, 
1713,  admired  and  regretted  by  the  whole  country. 
He  was  a  zealous  supporter  of  iatro-mathematics,  and 
as  such  ja  professed  antagonist  of  the  iatro-chemists. 
He  refuted  their  opinions  with  much  strength  of  rea- 
soning, while  his  high  reputation  gave  his  opinions  an 
uncommon  effect ;  so  that  he  contributed  perhaps  as 
much  as  any  one,  to  put  a  period  to  the  most  dis- 
graceful, as  well  as  dangerous,  set  of  opinions  that 
ever  overspread  the  medical  horizon. 

Into  the  merits  of  the  iatro-mathematicians  it  is  not 
the  business  of  this  work  to  enter ;  they  at  least  dis- 
play science,  and  labour,  and  erudition,  and  in  all 
these  respects  are  far  before  the  iatro-chemists.  Per- 
haps their  own  opinions  were  not  more  agreeable  to 
the  real  structure  of  the  human  body,  nor  their  prac- 
tice more  conformable  to  reason,  or  more  successful 
than  those  of  the  chemists.  Probably  the  most  valu- 
able of  all  Dr.  Pitcairne's  writings,  is  his  vindication 
of  the  claims  of  Hervey  to  the  great  discovery  of  the 
circulation. 

Boerhaave,  the  pupil  of  Pitcairne,  and  afterwards  a 
professor  in  Leyden,  was  a  no  less  zealous  or  success- 
ftil  opponent  of  the  iatro-chemists. 

Herman  Boerhaave,  perhaps  the  most  celebrated 
physician  that  ever  existed,  if  we  except  Hippocrates, 
was  born  at  Voorhout,  a  village  near  Leyden,  in  1668, 

VOL.  I.  p 


310  mSTD&T  09  UUMISIBT. 

vbereUs  father  vas  the  pomh  ileigyja^    AtAe 
age  of  sixteen  he  was  left  withovt  patents,  piotectioiiy 
advice,  (S'  foitone.     He  had  aireadj  studied  thedogj, 
and  the  other  branches  of  knowledge  diat  are  coo* 
sidered  as  requisite  for  a  clergyman,  to  which  sitna* 
tion  he  aspired ;  and  while  occiqiied  with  theae  studies 
he  supported  himself  at  Lejden  by  teaching  mathe- 
matics to  the  students — a  branch  of  knowledge  to 
which  he  had  deroted  himself  with  considerable  ardour 
while  living  in  his  father's  house.    But,  a  report  being 
raised  that  he  was  attached  to  the  doctrines  of  Spi- 
noza, the  clamour  against  him  was  so  loud  that  he 
thought  it  requisite  to  renounce  his  intention  of  going 
into  orders.*     He  turned  his  studies  to  medicine,  and 
the  branches  of  science  connected  with  that  pursuit, 
and  these  delightful  subjects  soon  engrossed  the  whole 
of  his  attention.    In  1693  he  was  created  doctor  of 
medicine,  and  began  to  practise.     He  continued  to 
teach  mathematics  for  some  time,  till  his  practice  in-> 
creased  sufficiently  to  enable  him  to  live  by  his  fees. 
His  spare  money  was  chiefly  laid  out  upon  books ;  he  ■ 
also  erected  a  chemical  laboratory,  and  though  he  had 
no  garden  he  paid  great  attention  to  the  study  of 
plants.     His  reputation  increased  with  considerable 
rapidity ;  but  his  fortune  rather  slowly.     He  was  in- 
vited to  the  Hague  by  a  nobleman,  who  stood  high  in 
the  favour  of  William  III.,  King  of  Great  Britain;  bol 
he  declined  the  invitation.     His  three  great  friendSi 
to  whom  he  was  in  some  measure  indebted  for  his 
success,  were  James  Tri gland,  professor  of  theology^  • 

*  While  travelling  in  a  tract-boat,  one  of  his  fellow-traveOeiS  .  | 
more  orthodox  than  well  informed,  attacked  the  system  of  Spl* 
n()7>a  with  so  little  spirit,  that  Boerbaave  was  tempted  to  ask  himilf 
be  liH(l  ever  read  Spinoza.  The  polemic  was  obliged  to  codIbm 
that  be  bad  not ;  but  be  was  so  much  provoked  at  this  public  «!(•/ J 
poHure  of  his  ignorance,  that  be  propagated  the  report  of  Boer* 
haave'M  attachment  to  Spinozism,  and  Uius  blasted  bis  intentiom 
of  becoming  a  clergyman. 


YAir  HELMOUT  AHD  TBS  lATRO^CHEMISTS.    211 

Daniel  Alphen,  and  John  Van  den  Berg,  both  of  them 
successively  chief  magistrates  of  Leyden,  and  men  of 
great  influence. 

.  Van  den  Bei^  recommended  him  to  the  situation  of 
professor  of  m^cine  in  the  University  of  Leyden,  to 
which  chair  he  was  raised,  fortunately  for  the  reputation 
of  the  university,  on  the  death  of  Drelincourt,  m  1702. 
He  not  only  gave  pubhc  lectures  on  medicine,  but 
was  in  the  habit  also  of  giving  private  instructions  to 
his  pupils.  His  success  as  a  teacher  was  so  great,  that 
a  report  having  been  spread  of  his  intention  to  quit 
Leyden,  the  curators  of  the  university  added  consi- 
derably to  his  salary  on  condition  that  he  would  not 
leave  them. 

This  first  step  towards  fortune  and  eminence  having 
been  made,  others  followed  with  great  rapidity.  He 
was  appointed  successively  professor  of  botany  and  of 
chemistry,  while  rectorships  and  deanships  were  show- 
ered upon  him  with  an  unsparing  hand.  And  such 
was  the  activity,  the  zeal,  and  the  ability  with  which 
be  filled  all  these  chairs,  that  he  raised  the  University 
of  Leyden  to  the  very  highest  rank  of  all  the  universi- 
ties of  Europe.  Students  flocked  to  him  from  all 
quarters^ — every  country  of  Europe  furnished  him  with 
pupils ;  Leyden  was  filled  and  enriched  by  an  unusual 
crowd  of  strangers.  Though  his  class-rooms  were 
large,  yet  so  great  was  the  number  of  students,  that  it 
was  customary  for  them  to  keep  places,  just  as  is  done 
in  a  theatre  when  a  first-rate  actor  is  expected  to  per- 
form. He  died  in  the  year  1738,  while  still  filling  tht 
three  different  chairs  with  undiminished  reputation. 

It  is  not  our  object  here  to  speak  of  Boerhaave  as  a 
physician,  or  as  a  teacher  of  medicine,  or  of  botany ; 
though  in  all  these  capacities  he  is  entitled  to  the  very 
highest  eulogium ;  his  practice  was  as  unexampled  as 
his  success  as  a  teacher.  It  is  solely  as  a  chemist  that 
he  claims  our  attention  here.  His  system  of  chemistry, 
published  in  two  quarto  volumes  in  1732,  and  of  which 

p2 


212      .  HISTOKY  OF  CHEMIST&Y. 

we  have  an  excellent  English  translation  by  Dr.  Shaw, 
printed  in  1741,  was  undoubtedly  the  most  learned 
and  most  luminous  treatise  on  chemistry  that  the  world 
had  yet  seen ;  it  is  nothing  less  than  a  complete  col- 
lection of  all  the  chemical  facts  and  processes  which 
were  known  in  Boerhaave's  time,  collected  from  a 
thousand  diflPerent  sources,  and  from  writings  equally 
disgusting  from  their  obscurity  and  their  mysticism. 
Every  thing  is  stated  in  the  plainest  way,  stripped  of 
all  mystery,  and  chemistry  is  shown  as  a  science 
and  an  art  pf  the  first  importance,  not  merely  to 
medicine,  but  to  mankind  in  general.  The  processes 
given  by  him  are  too  numerous  and  too  tedious  to  have 
been  all  repeated  by  one  man,  how  laborious  soever  he 
may  have  been :  many  of  them  have  been  taken  upon 
trust,  and,  as  no  distinction  is  made  in  the  book,  be- 
tween those  which  are  stated  upon  his  own  authority 
and  those  which  are  merely  copied  from  others,  this 
treatise  has  been  accused,  and  with  some  justice,  as 
not  always  to  be  depended  on.  But  the  real  informa- 
tion which  it  communicates  is  prodigious,  and  when 
we  compare  it  with  any  other  system  of  chemistry  that 
preceded  it,  the  superiority  of  Boerhaave's  information 
will  appear  in  a  very  conspicuous  point  of  view. 

After  a  short  but  valuable  historical  introduction 
he  divides  his  work  into  two  parts ;  the  first  treats  of 
the  theory  of  chemistry  y  the  second  of  the  practical' 
processes. 

He  defines  chemistry  as  follows :  "  Chemistry  is  aa^ 
art  which  teaches  the  manner  of  performing  certain' 
physical  operations,  whereby  bodies  cognizable  to  the" 
senses,  or  capable  of  being  rendered  cognizable,  and^ 
of  being  contained  in  vessels,  are  so  changed  by  mean8> 
of  proper  instruments,  as  to  produce  certain  determinate", 
effects;  and  at  the  same  time  discover  the  causess 
thereof ;  for  the  service  of  various  arts."  *  r 

,  This  definition  is  not   calculated  to  throw  mncte 
%btOii  chemistry  to  those  who  are  unacquainted  wit^- 


VAN   HELMONT   AND   THE   lATRO-CHEMISTS.     213 

its  nature  and  object.  Neither  *  is  it  conformable  to 
jthe  modem  notions  entertained  of  chemistry ;  but  it 
is  requisite  to  keep  in  mind  Boerhaave's  definition  of 
chemistry,  when  we  examine  his  system,  that  we  may 
not  accuse  him  of  omissions  and  imperfections,  which 
are  owing  merely  to  the  state  of  the  science  when  he 
gave  his  system  to  the  world. 

.  In  his  theory  of  chemistry  he  begins  with  the 
metals,  which  he  treats  of  in  the  following  order : 
Gold,  mercury,  lead,  silver,  copper,  iron,  tin.  The 
account  of  them,  though  imperfect,  is  much  fuller 
and  more  satisfactory  than  any  that  preceded  it.  He 
then  treats  of  the  salts,  which  are,  common  salt,  salt- 
petre, borax,  sal  ammoniac  and  alum.  This  it  will  be 
admitted  is  but  a  meagre  list.  However  other  salts 
occur  in  different  parts  of  the  book  which  are  not  de- 
scribed here.  He  next  gives  an  account  of  sulphur. 
Here  he  introduces  white  arsenic,  obtained,  he  says, 
from  cobalt,  and  not  known  for  more  than  two  hun- 
dred years.  He  considers  it  as  a  real  sulphur,  and 
takes  no  notice  of  metallic  arsenic,  though  it  had  been 
already  alluded  to  by  Paracelsus.  He  then  treats  of 
bitumens,  including  under  the  name  not  merely  bitu- 
mens liquid  and  solid,  but  likewise  pit-coal,  amber, 
and  ambergris.  An  account  of  stones  and  earths 
comes  next,  and  constitutes  the  most  defective  part  of 
the  book.  It  is  very  surprising  that  in  this  part  of 
.his  work  he  takes  no  notice  of  lime.  The  semi-metals 
come  next:  they  are,  antimony,  bismuth,  zinc. 
Here  he  gives  an  account  of  the  three  vitriols  or  sul- 
phates of  iron,  copper,  and  zinc.  He  knew  the  com- 
position of  sulphate  of  iron  ;  but  was  ignorant  of  that 
of  sulphate  of  copper  and  sulphate  of  zinc.  He  con- 
siders semi-metals  as  compounds  of  a  true  metal  and 
sulphur,  and  therefore  enumerates  cinnabar  among 
the  semi-metals.  Lastly  he  tieats  of  vegetables  and 
animals ;  and  it  is  needless  to  say  that  his  account  is 
.very  imperfect. 


• 


I 


He  next  treats  of  the  utility  of  chemistry,  and 
shows  its  importance  in  natural  philosophy,  medicine, 
and  the  arts.  Afterwards  he  describes  the  instruments 
of  chemistry.  This  constitutes  the  longest  and  the  most 
important  part  of  the  whole  work.  He  first  treats  of 
fire  at  great  length.  Here  we  have  an  account  of  thft 
thermometer,  of  the  expansion  produced  by  h^at,  of  J 
steam,  and  in  fact  the  germ  of  many  of  the  moat  ira-  ] 
portant  parts  of  the  science  of  heat,  which  have  sine*  I 
been  expanded  and  applied  to  the  improvement,  not 
merely  of  chemistry,  but  of  the  aits  and  resources  of 
human  industry.  The  experiments  of  Fahrenheit  re- 
lated by  him,  on  the  change  of  temperature  induced 
by  agitating  water  and  mercury  together  at  different 
degrees  of  heat,  gave  origin  to  the  whole  doctrine  of 
specific  heats.  Though  Boerhaave  himself  seemed  not 
aware  of  the  importance  of  these  experiments,  or  in- 
deed even  to  have  considered  them  with  any  attention. 
But  when  afterwards  analyzed  by  Dr.  Black,  these 
experiments  gave  origin  to  one  of  the  most  important 
parts  of  the  whole  science  of  heat. 

He  next  treats  at  great  length  on /we?.  Here  his 
opinions  are  often  very  erroneous,  from  his  ignorance 
of  ft  vast  number  of  facts  which  have  since  come  to 
light.  It  is  curious  that  during  the  whole  of  his  very 
long  account  of  combustion  he  makes  no  allusion  to 
the  peculiar  opinions  of  Stahl  on  the  subject;  though 
they  were  known  to  the  public,  and  had  been  ad- 
mitted by  chemists  in  general,  before  his  work  was 
fublished.  To  what  Eire  we  to  ascribe  this  omission? 
t  could  scarcely  have  been  owing  to  ignorance, 
Stahl's  reputation  being  too  high  to  allow  his  opinions 
to  be  treated  with  neglect.  We  must  suppose,  I  think, 
that  Boerhaave  did  not  adopt  Stahl's  doctrine  of  com- 
bustion ;  but  at  the  same  time  did  not  think  it  proper 
to  enter  into  any  controversy  on  the  subject. 

He  next  treats  of  the  heat  produced  when  different 
liquids  are  mixed,  &a  slcahol  and  water,  6k,    He 


r   HELMOST  AWO  THE    lATRO -CHE MISTS.     215 

gives  many  examples  of  such  increase  of  temperature, 
and  describes  tlie  phenomena  very  correctly.  But  he 
was  unable  to  assign  the  cause  of  the  evolution  of 
this  heat.  The  subjett  was  elucidated  many  years 
after  by  Dr.  Irvine,  who  showed  that  it  was  owing  to 
a  diminution  of  the  specific  heat  which  takes  place 
when  liquids  combine  chemically  together.  It  is  in 
this  part  of  his  work  that  he  gives  an  account  of  phos- 
phorus, of  the  action  of  nitric  acid  on  volatile  oils, 
and  he  concludes,  from  all  the  facts  which  he  states, 
that  elementary  fire  is  a  corporeal  body.  His  expla- 
nation of  the  combustion  of  Romberg's  pyrophoras 
and  of  common  phosphorus,  shows  clearly  that  he  had 
no  correct  notion  of  the  reason  why  air  is  necessary 
to  maintain  combustion,  nor  of  the  way  in  which  that 
elastic  tluid  performs  its  part  in  the  great  phenomena 
of  nature. 

He  next  treats  of  the  mode  of  regulating  fire  for 
chemical  purposes  :  then  he  treats  of  air,  liis  account 
being  chiefly  taken  from  Boyle.  He  ascribes  the  dis- 
covery of  the  law  of  the  elasticity  of  air  both  to  Boyle 
and  Mariotte.  Boyle,  1  believe,  was  the  (irst  discoverer 
of  it.  The  French  are  in  the  habit  of  calling  it  the 
law  of  Mariotte.  He  then  treats  of  water,  and  lastly 
of  earth  ;  but  even  here  no  mention  whatever  is  made 
of  lime.  In  the  last  part  of  the  theory  of  chemistry 
he  treats  at  great  length  of  menstruams.  These  are 
water,  oils,  alcohol,  alkalies,  acids,  and  neutral  salts. 
He  mentions  potash  and  ammonia,  but  takes  no  notice 
of  soda ;  the  dtfierence  between  potash  and  soda  not 
being  accurately  known.  Nor  can  we  expect  any 
particular  account  of  the  difference  between  the  pro- 
perties of  mild  and  caustic  potash ;  as  this  subject 
was  not  understood  till  the  time  of  Dr.  Black.  The 
only  acids  which  he  mentions  are  the  acetic,  sul- 
phuric, nitric,  muriatic,  and  aijuii  regia.  He  sub- 
joins a  disquisition  on  the  alcahest  or  universal  sol- 
vent, which  it  is  obvious  enough,  howevet,  (torn  *i^% 


216  BISTORT  OF  CHEMISTRY. 

way  in  which  he  speaks  of  it,  that  he  was  not  a  be* 
liever  in.  The  object  of  his  practical  part  is  to  teach 
the  method  of  making  all  the  different  chemical  sub- 
stances known  when  he  wrote;  This  he  does  in  two 
hundred  and  twenty-seven  processes,  in  which  all  the 
manipulations  are  described  with  considerable  minute- 
ness. This  part  of  the  work  must  have  been  long 
considered  as  of  great  utility,  and  must  have  been 
long  resorted  to  by  the  student  as  a  mine  of  practical 
information  upon  almost  every  subject  that  could  ar- 
rest his  attention.  So  immense  is  the  progress  that 
chemistry  has  made  since  the  days  of  Boerhaave,  and 
so  different  are  the  researches  that  at  present  occupy 
chemists,  and  so  much  greater  the  degree  of  precision 
requisite  to  be  attained,  that  his  processes  and  direc- 
tions are  now  of  little  or  no  use  to  a  practical  student 
of  chemistry,  as  they  convey  little  or  none  of  the 
knowledge  which  it  is  requisite  for  him  to  possess. 

Boerhaave  made  a  set  of  most  elaborate  experi- 
ments, to  refute  the  ideas  of  the  alchy mists  respecting 
the  possibility  of  fixings  mercury.  He  put  a  quantity 
of  pure  mercury  into  a  glass  vessel,  and  kept  it  for 
fifteen  years  at  a  temperature  rather  higher  than  lOO** 
It  underwent  no  alteration  whatever,  excepting  that  a 
small  portion  of  it  was  converted  into  a  black  powder* 
But  this  black  powder  was  restored  to  the  state  of 
running  mercury  by  trituration  in  a  mortar.  In  this 
experiment  the  air  had  free  access  to  the  mercury.  It 
was  repeated  in  a  close  vessel  with  the  same  result^ 
excepting  that  the  mercury  was  kept  hot  for  only  m 
months  instead  of  fifteen  years.  »> 

To  show  that  mercury  cannot  be  obtained  from  me* 
tals  by  the  processes  recommended  by  the  alch3naiist4 
he  dissolved  pure  nitrate  of  lead  in  water,  and,  mixiii|^ 
the  solution  with  sal  ammoniac,  chloride  of  lead  precs^ 
pitated.  Of  this  chloride  he  put  a  quantity  into  a  re^ 
tort,  and  poured  over  it  a  strong  lixivium  of.  caustic 
potash.    The  whole  was  digested  at  the  temperatm 


*t 


ri 


VAN   HELMONT   AND   THE  lATRO-CHEMISTS.      217 

of  96®  for  six  months  and  six  days.  It  was  then  dis- 
tilled in  a  glass  retort,  by  a  temperature  gradually 
raised  to  redness,  but  not  a  particle  of  mercury  was 
evaporated,  as  it  had  been  alleged  by  the  alchymists 
would  be  the  case. 

,  Isaac  Hollandus  had  stated  that  mercury  could  be 
easily  obtained  from  the  salt  of  lead  made  by  means 
of  distilled  vinegar.  To  prove  this  he  calcined  a 
quantity  of  acetate  of  lead,  ground  the  residue  to 
powder,  and  triturated  it  with  a  very  strong  alkaline 
lixivium,  and  kept  the  lixivium  over  it  covered  with 
paper  for  months,  taking  care  to  add  water  in  propor- 
tion as  it  evaporated.  The  calx  was  then  distilled  in 
a  heat  gradually  raised  to  redness  ;  but  not  a  particle 
of  mercury  was  obtained.* 

These  were  not  the  only  laborious  experiments  which 
he  made  with  this  metal.  He  distilled  it  above  five 
hundred  times,  and  found  that  it  underwent  no  altera- 
tion. When  long  agitated  in  a  glass  bottle  it  is  con- 
vertible into  a  black  acrid  powder,  obviously  protoxide 
of  mercury.  This  black  powder,  when  distilled,  is 
converted  into  running  mercury.  Exposure  of  mer- 
cury for  some  months  in  a  heat  of  180°,  converts  it 
also  into  protoxide ;  and  if  the  heat  be  higher  than 
this,  the  mercury  is  converted  into  a  red  acrid  sub- 
stance, obviously  peroxide  of  mercury.  But  this 
peroxide,  by  simple  distillation,  is  again  reduced  into 
the  state  of  running  mercury.f 

Boerhaave  combated  the  opinions  of  the  iatro-che- 
mists  with  great  eloquence,  and  with  a  weight  derived 
from  his  high  reputation,  and  the  extraordinary  vene- 
ration in  which  his  opinions  were  held  by  his  disciples. 
His  efforts  were  assisted  by  those  of  Bohn,  who  com- 
bated the  medical  opinions  by  arguments  drawn  both  from 
experience  and  observation,  and  perfectly  irresistible ; 

•  Mem.*  Paris,  1734,  p.  539. 

t  Phil.  Trans.  1733.    No.  430,  p.  145. 


dl8  BliStOAT  or   CHSMISTRT. 

and  the  ruin  of  the  chemical  sect  was  consummated 
by  the  exertions  of  the  celebrated  Frederick  Hoffmann, 
the  founder  of  the  most  perfect  and  satisfactory  sys- 
tem of  medicine  that  has  ever  appeared.  His  efforts 
were  probably  roused  into  action  by  a  visit  which  he 
paid  to  England  in  1683,  during  which  he  got  ac- 
quainted with  Boyle  and  with  Sydenham ;  the  former 
the  greatest  experimentalist,  and  the  latter  the  greatest 
physician  of  the  time ;  and  both  of  whom  were  de- 
clared enemies  to  iatro-chemistry. 


AGRtCOLA   AND   METALLTTROY.  219 


CHAPTER  VI. 


OF  A6RIC0LA   AND   METALLURGY. 

I  HAVE  been  induced  by  a  wish  to  prosecute  the 
history  of  the  opinions  first  supported  by  Paracelsus, 
and  carried  so  much  further  by  Van  Helmont  and 
Sylvius,  to  give  a  connected  view  of  their  effects 
upon  medical  practice  and  medical  theory;  and  I 
have  come  to  the  commencement  of  the  eighteenth 
century,  without  taking  notice  of  one  of  the  most  ex- 
traordinary men,  and  one  of  the  greatest  promoters  of 
chemistry  that  ever  existed  :  I  mean  Greorge  Agricola. 
I  shall  consecrate  the  whole  of  this  chapter  to  his  la- 
bours, and  those  of  his  immediate  successors. 

George  Agricola  was  bom  at  Glaucha,  in  Misnia, 
in  the  year  1494.  When  a  young  man  he  acquired  such 
a  passion  for  mining  and  minerals,  by  frequenting  the 
mountains  of  Bohemia,  that  he  could  not  be  persuaded  to 
relinquish  the  study.  He  settled,  indeed,  as  a  phy- 
sician, at  Joachimstal;  but  his  favourite  study  en- 
grossed so  much  of  his  attention,  that  he  succeeded 
but  ill  in  his  medical  capacity.  This  induced  him  to 
withdraw  to  Chemnitz,  where  he  devoted  himself  to  his 
favourite  pursuits.  He  studied  the  mineralogical 
writings  of  the  ancients  with  the  most  minute  accu- 
racy ;  but  not  satisfied  with  this,  he  visited  the  mines 
in  persoQ;  examined  the  processes  followed  by  die 


220  HISTORY  OF  CHEMISTRT. 

miners  in  extracting  the  difFerent  ores,  and  in  washing 
and  sorting  them.     He  made  collections  of  all  the 
different  ores,  and  studied  their  nature  and  properties 
attentively:  he  likewise  collected  information  about 
the  methods  of  smelting  them,  and  extracting  from 
them  the  metals  in  a  state  of  purity.     The  informaticm 
which  he  collected,  respecting  the  mines  wrought  in 
the  different  countries  of  Europe,  is  quite  wonderful,  ■ 
if  we  consider  the  period  in  which  he  lived,  the  little - 
intercourse  which  existed  between  nations,  and  th»i 
total  want  of  all  those  newspapers  and  journals  which ( 
now  carry  every  new  scientific  fact  with  such  rapidity  f 
to  every  part  of  the  world.  j 

Agricola  died  at  Chemnitz  in  the  year  1555,  after  he*^ 
had  reached  the  sixty-first  year  of  his  age.  Maurice,  the^- 
celebrated  Elector  of  Saxony,  settled  on  him  a  pension^ ^ 
the  whole  of  which  he  devoted  to  hismetallurgicpursuitSi'"; 
To  him  we  find  him  dedicating  the  edition  of  his  workf 
which  he  published  in  the  year  of  his  death,  and  whicks 
is  dated  the  fourteenth  before  the  calends  of  April,  1555i?Ts 
He  even  spent  a  considerable  proportion  of  his  odi^ 
estate  in  following  out  his  favourite  investigations.  Itf) 
the  earlier  part  of  his  life  he  had  expressed  himseBo 
rather  favourable  to  the  protestant  opinions  ;  but  ^iW 
his  latter  days  he  had  attacked  the  reformed  religiottfb 
This  rendered  him  so  odious  to  the  Lutherans,  at  thil^ 
time  predominant  in  Chemnitz,  that  they  suffered  lalkfi 
body  to  remain  unburied  for  ^yq  days  together;  it 
that  it  was  necessary  to  remove  it  from  Chemnitz  Wl 
Zeitz,  where  it  was  interred  in  the  principal  church*^ 

His  great  work  is  his  treatise  De  Re  Metallica>  JMM 
twelve  books.  In  this  work  he  gives  an  account  -pff 
the  instruments  and  machines,  and  every  thing  coi|jMi 
nected  with  mining  and  metallurgy;  and  even  ghfii 
figures  of  all  the  different  pieces  of  apparatus  eoil^ 
ployed  in  his  time.  He  has  also  exhibited  the  Lafiw 
and  German  names  for  all  these  different  utend 
This  work  may  be  considered  as  a  very  complete  tr^ 


-  .ii 


AORICOLA  AKD  METALLUftOY.  221 

tke  on  metallurgy,  as  it  existed  in  the  sixteenth  cen« 
tofy.  The  first  six  books  are  occupied  with  an  account 
o{  mining  and  smelting.     In  the  seventh  book  he 
treats  of  docimasyy  or  the  method  of  determining  the 
quantity  of  metal  which  can  be  extracted  from  every 
particular  ore.    This  he  does  so  completely,  that  most 
of  his   processes  are  still  followed  by  miners  and 
smelters*     He  gives  a  minute  and  accurate  account  of 
the  furnaces,  mufflles,  crucibles,  &c.,  almost  such  as 
are  still  employed,  with  minute  directions  for  pre- 
paring the  ores  which  are  to  be  subjected  to  examina- 
tion, the  fluxes  with  which  they  must  be  mixed,  and 
the  precautions  necessary  in  order  to  obtain  a  satisfac- 
tory result.     In  short,  this  book  may  be  considered 
as  a  complete  manual  of  docimasy.     How  much  of 
the  methods  given  originated  with  Agricola  it  is  im- 
possible to  say.     He  probably  did  little  more  than 
collect    the    scattered    processes   employed   by  the 
smelters  of  metals,  in  different  parts  of  the  world,  and 
reduce  the  whole  to  a  regular  system.     But  this  was 
a  great  deal.     Perhaps  it  is  not  saying  too  much,  that 
the  great  progress  made  in  the  chemical  investigation 
of  the  metals,  was  owing  in  a  great  measure  to  the 
labours  of  Agricola.     Certainly  the  progress  made  by 
the  moderns,  in  the  difficult  arts  of  mining  and  me- 
tallurgy, must  in  a  gre?it  measure  be  ascribed  to  the 
labours  of  Agricola. 

In  the  eighth  book  he  describes  the  mechanical  pre- 
paration of  the  ores,  and  the  mode  of  roasting  them, 
either  in  the  open  air  or  in  furnaces.  The  ninth  book 
is  occupied  with  an  account  of  smelting-furnaces.  It 
contains  also  a  description  of  the  processes  for  obtain- 
ing mercury,  antimony,  and  bismuth,  from  their  ores. 
The  tenth  book  treats  of  the  separation  of  silver  and 
gold  from  each  other,  by  means  of  nitric  acid  and  aqua 
regia  :  minute  directions  for  the  preparation  of  which 
are  given.  The  modes  of  purifying  the  precious  me- 
tals by  means  of  sulphur,  antimony,  and  cemeutatiou^) 


222  HISTOEY  OF  CHEMISTEY. 

are  also  described.  In  the  eleventh  book  he  treats  of 
the  method  of  puiifying  silver  from  copper  and  iron, 
by  means  of  lead.  He  gives  an  accoimt  also  of  the 
processes  employed  for  smelting  and  purifying  copper. 
In  the  twelfth  book  he  treats  of  the  methods  of  pre- 
paring common  salt,  saltpetre,  alum,  and  green  vitriol, 
or  sulphate  of  iron ;  of  the  preparation  and  purification 
of  sulphur,  and  of  the  mode  of  manufacturing  glass. 
In  short,  Agricola's  work  De  Re  Metallica  is  beyond 
comparison  the  most  valuable  chemical  work  which 
the  sixteenth  century  produced,  and  places  the  author 
very  high  indeed  amotig  the  list  of  the  improvers  of 
chemistry. 

The  other  works  of  Agricola  are  his  treatise  De 
Natura  Fossilium,  in  ten  books ;  De  Ortu  et  Causis 
Subterraneorum,  in  five  books ;  De  Natura  eorum  qu«e 
efiluunt  ex  Terra,  in  four  books ;  De  veteribus  et  novis 
Metallis,  in  two  books ;  and  his  Bermannus  sive  de    ' 
re  metallica  Dialogus.     The  treatise  De  veteribus  et 
novis  Metallis  is  amusing.     He  not  only  collects  toge« 
ther  all  the  historical  facts  on  record,  respecting  the 
first  discoverers  of  the  different  metals  and  the  first 
workers  of  mines,  but  he  gives  many  amusing  anec- 
dotes nowhere  else  to  be  found,  respecting  the  way  in 
which  some  of  the  most  celebrated  German  mines 
were  discovered.     In  the  second  book  he  takes  a  geo- 
graphical view  of  every  part  of  the  known  world,  and 
states  the  mines  wrought  and  the  metals  found  in  each. 
We  must  not  suppose  that  all  his  statements  in  this 
historical  sketch  are  accurate :  to  admit  it  would  be 
to  allow  him  a  greater  share  of  information  than  could 
possibly  belong  to  any  one  man.     He  frequently  gives 
us  the  authority  upon  which  his  statements  are  founded;  - 
but  he  often  makes. statements  without  any  authority^" 
whatever.     Thus  he  says,  that  a  mine  of  quicksilver"- 
had  been  recently  discovered  in  Scotland :  the  fact;^ 
however,  is,  that  no  quicksilver-mine  ever  existed  ic* 
any  part  of  Britain.    There  was,  indeed,  a  foplislEl' 


AGltXCOLA  AKD   MBTALLVAGY.  223 

Story  circulated  about  thirty  years  ago,  about  a  vein  of 
quickflilyer  found  under  the  town  of  Berwick-upon- 
Tweed  ;  but  it  was  an  assertion  unsupported  by  any 
Ituthentic  evidence. 

Many  years  elapsed    before   much  addition  was 
made  to  the  processes  described  by  Agricola.     In  the 
year  1566,  Pedro  Femandes  de  Velasco  introduced  a 
niethod  of  extracting  gold  and  silver  from  their  ores  in 
Mexico  and  Peru  by  means  of  quicksilver.     But  I 
lutve  never  seen  a  description  of  his  process.     Alonzo 
Barba  claims  for  liimself,  and  seemingly  with  justice, 
the  method  of  amalgamating  the  ores  of  gold  and 
silver  by  boiling.     Barba  was  a  Spanish  priest,  who 
lived  about  the  year  1609,  at  Tarabuco,  a  market- 
town  in  the  province  of  Charcso,  eight  miles  from 
Plata,  in  South  America.     In  the  year  1615  he  was 
curate  at  Tiaguacano,  in  the  Province  of  Pacayes,  and 
in  1617,  he  lived  at  Lepas  in  Peru.  He  is  said  to  have 
been  a  native  of  Lepe,  a  small  township  in  Andalusia, 
and  had  for  many  years  the  living  of  the  church  of  St. 
Bernard  at  Potosi.     His  work  on  the  amalgamation  of 
gold  and  silver  ores  appeared  at  Madrid  in  the  year 
1640,  in  quarto.*     In  the  year  1629  a  new  edition  of 
It  appeared  with  an  appendix,   under   the    title  of 
"Trattado  de  las  Antiquas  Minas  de  Espana  de  Alonzo 
Carillo  Lasso."    The  English  minister  at  the  Court  of 
Madrid,  the    Earl  of  Sandwich,   published  the  first 
P^rt  of  it  in  an  English  translation   at  London,  in 
1674,  under  the  title  of  **  The  First  Book  of  the  Art 
^  Metals,  in  which  is  declared  the  manner  of  their 
S^Deration,  and  the    concomitants  of  them,  written 
iQ  Spanish  by  Albaro  Alonzo  Barba.    By  E.  Earl  of 
Sandwich.'' 

The  next  improver  of  metallurgic  processes  was 
l^zarus  Erckern,  who  was  upper  bar-master  at  Kut- 


ID 


v|       .    It  18  entitled,  *'£1  Arte  de  los  Metales,  en  que  se  ensena 
►        «  ^«rdadero  beneficio  de  los  de  ore  y  plata  por  azoc^ue  "  8i.^% 


224  aUTO&T  OF  CHSmSTET. 

tenberg,  in  the  year  1588,  and  was  superintendent  of : 
the  mines  in  Uennany,  Hongary,  Transylvania,  the- 
Tyrol,  Sec.  9  to  three  successive  emperors.  His  work  has 
been  translated  into  English  under  the  title  of  *^  Heta: 
Minor ;  or  the  laws  of  art  and  nature  in  knowing,- . 
judging,  assaying,  fining,  refining,  and  enlarging  the 
bodies  of  confined  metals.  To  which  are  added  essays  :. 
on  metaUic  words,  illustrated  with  sculptures.  By  Sir 
J.  Pettus.  London,  1683,  folio."  But  this  transla- 
tion is  a  very  bad  one.  Erckem  gives  a  plain  account 
of  all  the  processes  employed  in  his  time  without  a 
word  of  theory  or  reasoning.  It  is  an  excellent  prac- 
tical book ;  though  it  is  obvious  enough  that  the 
author  was  inferior  in  point  of  abilities  to  Agricola. 
His  treatment  of  Don  Juan  de  Corduba,  who  offered, 
in  1588,  to  put  the  Court  of*  Vienna  in  possession  of 
the  Spanish  method  of  extracting  gold  and  silver  from 
the  ores  by  amalgamation,  as  related  by  Baron  Bom  in 
his  work  on  amalgamation,  shows  very  clearly  that 
Erckem  was  a  very  illiberal-minded  man,  and  puffed 
up  with  an  undue  conceit  of  his  own  superior  know- 
ledge.* Had  he  condescended  to  assist  the  Spaniard,  J 
and  to  fumish  him  with  proper  materials  to  work  upon, 
the  Austrians  might  have  been  in  possession  of  the  pro- 
cess of  amalgamation  with  all  its  advantages  a  couple 
of  centuries  before  its  actual  introduction.  ' 

I  need  not  take  any  notice  of  the  docimastic  treatises 
of  Schindlers  and  Schlutter,  which  are  of  a  much 
later  date,  and  both  of  which  have  been  translated  into 
French,  the  former  by  GeofFroy,  junior ;  the  latter  by 
Hellot.  This  last  translation,  in  two  large  quartos, 
published  in  1764,  constitutes  a  very  valuable  book, 
and  exhibits  all  the  docimastic  and  metallurgic  pro- 
cesses known  at  that  period  with  much  fidelity  and  mi- 
nuteness.    Very  great  improvements  have  taken  place 

*  Bom's  New  Process    of  Amalgamation,   translated  hf  H 


hmtl 
iJDL  auLV  at  tfaft 
itD  siwt  man 

mimny  ^ 

aretD 


aEDi  not  awsre  of  onr  work 

Siiopean:  lan^migiesv  that  b» 

ideaof  ciid  nresenc  $tuCD 

mecaUnr^  processes*— ^itt<« 


/ 


^01,1 


228  msTonT  of  casMitTwr* 


( ■ 


CHAPTER  VIL 


7;. 


OF  GLAUBER,  LEMERT,  AND  SOME  OTHER  CHEMISTS  OV  ijp 
END  OF  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY.  £0 

Hitherto  I  have  treated  of  the  alchymists,  '-ik 
iatro-chemists,  and  have  brought  the  history  of  dii^ 
mistry  down  to  the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth 
tury.  But  during  tibe  seventeenth  century 
existed  several  laborious  chemists,  who  contril 
very  materially  by  their  exertions,  either  to  extend 
bounds  of  the  science,  or  to  increase  its  popularity 
respectability  in  the  eyes  of  the  world.  Of  some 
the  most  eminent  of  these  it  is  my  intention  to  give  4 
account  in  this  chapter.  y 

Of  John  Rudolf  Glauber,  the  first  of  these 
torious  men  in  point  of  time,  I  know  very  few  part 
lars.     He   was  a  German  and  a  medical  man, 
spent  most  of  his  time  at  Salzburg,  Ritzingen,  Fi 
fort  on  the  Maine,  and  at  Cologne.     Towards 
of  his  life  he  went  to  Holland,  but  during  the 
part  of  his  residence  in  that  country  he  was  coni 
to  a  sick-bed.     He  died  at  Amsterdam  in  1668, 
having  reached  a  very  advanced  age.  Like  Paracel 
whom  he  held  in  high  estimation,  he  was  in  open 
tility  with  the  Galenical  physicians  of  his  time, 
led  him  into  various  controversies,  and  induced 
to  publish  various  apologies ;  most  of  which  si 
main  among  his  writings.     One  of  the  most  curioi 
these  apologies  is  the  one  against  Farmer.     To 
naa  Glauber  had  coinisixaa^^^^d  cectak  secrets  4 


CHEMISTRY. Of  THS  SSVXIITIKSKTH  CE19TURT.  %Vt 

own,  which  were  at  that  time  considered  aS  of  great 
value;  Farmer  binding  himself  not  to  communicate 
them   to    any  person.     This  obligation  he  not  only 
broke,    but  publicly  deprecated   the   skill  and    in- 
tegrity of  Glauber,   and  offered  to  communicate  to 
others,  for  stipulated  sums,  a  set  of  secrets  of  his  own» 
which  he  vaunted  of  as  particularly  valuable.  Glauber 
examines  these  secrets,  and  shows  that  every  one  of 
them  possessed  of  any  value,  had  been  communicated 
by  himself  to  Farmer,  and  to  put  an  end  to  Farmer's 
unfair  attempt  to  make  money  by  selling  Glauber's 
secrets,  he  in  this  apology  communicates  the  whole 
processes  to  the  public  j 

Glauber*8  works  were  published  in  Amsterdam, 
partly  in  Latin,  and  partly  in  the  German  language. 
In  the  year  1689  an  English  translation  of  them  was 

f>ublished  in  London  by  Mr.  Christopher  Packe,  in  one 
arge  folio  volume.  Glauber  was  an  alchymist  and  a 
believer  in  the  universal  medicine.  But  he  did  not 
confine  his  researches  to  these  two  particulars,  but  en- 
deavoured to  improve  medicine  and  the  arts  by  the 
application  of  chemical  processes  to  them.  In  his 
treatise  of  philosophical  furnaces  he  does  not  confine 
himself  to  a  description  of  the  method  of  constmcting 
furnaces,  and  explaining  the  use  of  them,  but  gives 
an  account  of  a  vast  many  processes,  and  medicinal 
and  chemical  preparations,  which  he  made  by  means 
of  these  furnaces.  One  of  the  most  important  of 
these  preparations  was  muriatic  acid,  which  he  obtained 
by  distilling  a  mixture  of  common  salt,  sulphate  of 
iron,  and  alum,  in  one  of  the  furnaces  which  he 
describes. 

He  makes  known  the  method  of  dissolving  most  of 
the  metals  in  muriatic  acid,  and  the  resulting  chlorides, 
which  he  denominates  oils  of  the  respective  metals, 
constitute  in  his  opinion  valuable  medicines.  He 
mentions  particularly  the  chloride  of  gold,  and  from 

the  mo4e  of  preparuig  it,  the  solutioa  xau«t.  livi^  Xv^^scx 

Q  2 


228     '  HISTO&T  OF  CHEMISTRY. 

Strong.  Yet  he  recommends  it  as  an  internal  medi- 
cine, which  he  says  may  be  taken  with  safety,  and  is 
a  sovereign  remedy  in  old  ulcers  of  the  mouth,  tongue, 
and  throat,  arising  from  the  French  pox,  leprosy, 
scorbute,  &c.  Thus  we  see  the  use  of  gold  as  a  remedy 
for  the  venereal  disease  did  not  originate  with  M. 
Chretiens,  of  Montpelier.  This  chloride  of  gold  is  so 
violent  a  poison  that  it  is  remarkable  that  Glauber  does 
not  specify  the  dose  that  patients  labouring  under  the 
diseases  for  which  he  recommends  it  ought  to  take. — • 
The  sesqui-chloride  of  iron  he  recommends  as  a  most 
excellent  application  to  ill-conditioned  ulcers  and  can- 
cers. We  see  from  this  that  the  use  of  iron  in  cancers^ 
lately  recommended,  is  not  so  new  a  remedy  as  has 
been  supposed. 

He  mentions  the  violent  action  of  chloride  of  mer- 
cury (obviously  corrosive  sublimate),  and  says  that 
he  saw  a  woman  suddenly  killed  by  it,  being  adminis-> 
tered  internally  by  a  surgeon.  Butter  of  antimony  he 
first  recognised  as  nothing  else  than  a  combination  of 
chlorine  and  antimony ;  before  his  time  it  had  been 
always  supposed  to  contain  mercury. 

He  describes  the  method  of  obtaining  sulphuric 
acid  by  distilling  sulphate  of  iron ;  gives  an  account  of 
the  mode  of  obtaining  sulphate  of  iron  and  sulphate 
of  copper,  in  crystals :  the  method  of  obtaining  ni- 
tric acid  from  nitre  by  means  of  alum,  was  much  im- 
proved by  him.  He  gives  a  particular  detail  of  the 
way  of  obtaining  fulminating  gold.  This  fulminating 
gold  he  says  is  of  little  use  in  medicine ;  but  he  give* 
a  method  of  preparing  from  it  a  red  tincture  of  gold, 
which  he  considers  as  one  of  the  most  useful  and  effi"* 
cacious  of  all  medicines :  this  tincture  is  nothing  els& 
than  chloride  of  gold.  It  would  take  up  too  mucK 
space  to  attempt  an  analysis  of  all  the  curious  factfl^ 
and  preparations  described  in  this  treatise  on  philoso-^ 
phical  furnaces ;  but  it  will  repay  the  perusal  of  an^^  ' 
person  who  will  take  the  trouble  to  Iqok  into  it#    AS    ] 


CHSMISTRY.OF  THE  SEVENTEENTH  CENTURT.  $29 

ibe.  differetit  pharmacopceiaa  of  the  seventeenth  cen* 
tury  borrowed  from  it  largely.  The  third  part  of  this 
treatise  is  peculiarly  interesting.  It  will  be  seen  that 
Glauber  had  already  thought  of  the  peculiar  efficacy 
pf  applying  solutions  of  sulphur,  &c.  to  the  skin,  and 
bad  anticipated  the  various  vapour  and  gaseous  baths 
vhich  have  been  introduced  in  Vienna  and  other 
places,  during  the  course  of  the  present  century,  and 
considered  as  new,  and  as  constituting  an  important 
era  in  the  healing  art.  In  the  fourth  part  he  not  only 
treats  of  the  docimastic  processes,  so  well  described 
by  Agricola  and  Erckern,  but  gives  us  the  method  of 
making  glass,  and  of  imitating  the  precious  stones  t)y 
means  of  coloured  glasses.  The  fifth  part  is  peculiarly 
valuable ;  in  it  he  treats  of  the  methods  of  preparing 
lutes  for  glass  vessels,  of  the  construction  and  qualities 
of  crucibles,  and  of  the  vitrification  of  earthen  vessels. 
If  Another  of  his  tracts  is  called  "  The  Mineral  Work;*' 
the  object  of  which  is  to  show  the  method  of  separat- 
ing gold  from  flints,  sand,  clay,  and  other  minerals, 
by  the  spirit  of  salt  {muriatic  acid)^  which  otherwise 
cannot  be  purged ;  also  a  panacea,  or  universal  anti- 
monial  medicine.  This  panacea  was  a  solution  of 
deutoxide  of  antimony  in  pyrotartaric  acid;  Glau- 
ber gives  a  most  flattering  account  of  its  efficacy  in 
removing  the  most  virulent  diseases,  particularly  all 
kinds  of  cutaneous  eruptions.  The  second  and  third 
parts  of  The  Mineral  "Work  are  entirely  alchy mistical* 
In  the  treatise  called  "  Miraculum  Mundi,"  his  chief 
object  is  to  write  a  panegyric  on  sulphate  of  soda,  of 
which  he  was  the  discoverer,  and  to  which  he  gave  the 
name  of  sal  mirabile.  The  high  terms  in  which  he 
speaks  of  this  innocent  salt  are  highly  amusing,  and 
serve  well  to  show  the  spirit  of  the  age,  and  the  dreams 
which  still  continued  to  haunt  the  most  laborious 
and  sober-minded  chemists.  The  sal  mirabile  was 
not  merely  a  purgative,  a  virtue  which  it  certainly 
|K)sse8ses  in  a  high  degree^  being  as  mild  a  pur-« 


230  HISTOET  Of  CHKinSTKY. 

gative,  perhaps  th6  very  best,  of  all  the  saline  prepar- 
ations yet  tried ;  but  it  was  a  universal  medicine,  a 
panacea,  a  cure  for  all  diseases:  nor  was  Glauber* 
contented  with  this,  but  pointed  out  many  uses  in  the 
various  arts  and  manufactures  for  which  in  his  opinion 
it  was  admirably  fitted.  But  by  far  the  fullest  ac-» 
count  of  this  sal  mirahile  is  given  by  him  in  his  trea- 
tise on  the  nature  of  salts. 

I  shall  satisfy  myself  with  giving  the  titles  of  his 
other  tracts.  Every  one  of  them' contains  facts  of  con- 
siderable importance,  not  to  be  found  in  any  chemical 
writings  that  preceded  him;  but  to  attempt  to  connect 
these  facts  into  one  point  of  view  would  be  needless, 
because  they  are  not  such  as  Vould  be  likely  to  in- 
terest the  general  reader. 

1.  The  Consolation  of  "Navigators.  This  gives  an 
account  of  a  method  by  which  sailors  may  carry  with 
them  a  great  deal  of  nourishment  in  very  small  bulk* 
The  method  consists  in  evaporating  the  wort  of  malt  ^ 
to  dryness,  and  carrying  the  dry  extract  to  sea.  This 
method  has  been  had  recourse  to  in  modem  times,  and 
has  been  found  to  furnish  an  effectual  remedy  against 
the  scurvy.  He  recommends  also  the  use  of  muriatic 
acid  as  a  remedy  for  thirst,  and  a  cure  for  the  scurvy* 

2.  A  true  and  perfect  Description  of  the  extracting   i 
good  Tartar  from  the  Lees  of  Wine. 

3.  The  first  part  of  the  Prosperity  of  Germany  •  in 
which  is  treated  of  the  concentration  of  wine,  com> 
and  wood,  and  the  more  profitable  use  of  them  thaii 
has  hitherto  been. 

4.  The  second  part  of  the  Prosperity  of  Germany  < 
wherein  is  shown  by  what  means  minerals  may  W 
concentrated  by  nitre,  and  turned  mto  metallic  and 
better  bodies. 

5.  The  third  part  of  the  Prosperity  of  Germany  ( 
in  which  is  delivered  the  way  of  most  easily  and  pleft- 
tifuUy  extracting  saltpetre  out  of  various  subj^eti^ 

every  where  obvious  and  at  hand.    Together  with  i 


CHEMISTRY   OP   THE  BEVBUTEENTH  CENTURY,  S3t 

succinct  explanation  of  Paracelsus'*  prophecy;  that  is 
to  say,  in  what,  manner  it.  is  to  be  understood  the 
northern  lion  will  institute  or  plant  his  political  or  civil 
inoQarchy ;  and  that  Paracelsus  himself  will  not  abide 
in  his  grave;  and  that  a  vast  ijnantity  of  riches  will 
offer  itself.  Likewise  who  the  artist  Elias  is,  of  whose 
coming  in  the  last  days,  and  his  disclosing  abundance 
of  secrets,  Paracelsus  and  others  have  predicted. 

6.  The  fourth  part  of  the  Prosperity  of  Gennany ; 
in  which  are  revealed  many  excellent,  useful  secrets, 
and  such  as  are  serviceable  to  the  country ;  and  withal 
several  preparations  of  efficacious  cates  extracted  out 
of  tiie  metals  and  appointed  to  physical  uses;  as  also 
various  confections  of  golden  potions.  To  which  is 
also  adjoined  a  small  treatise  which  maketh  mention 
of  my  laboratory:  in  which  there  shall  be  taught  and 
demonstrated  (for  the  public  good  and  benefit  of  man- 
kind) wonderful  secrets,  and  unto  every  body  most 
profitable  but  hitherto  unknown. 

7.  The  fifth  part  of  the  Prosperity  of  Germany ; 
clearly  and  solidly  demonstrating  and  as  it  were  show- 
ing with  the  fingers,  what  alchymy  is,  and  what  bene- 
filniay,  by  the  help  thereof,  be  gotten  every  where  and 
in  most  places  of  Germany.  Written  and  published 
to  the  honour  of  God,  the  giver  of  all  good  things,  pri- 
marily ;  and  to  the  honour  of  all  the  great  ones  of  the 
country;  and  for  the  health,  profit,  and  assistance 
igainst  foreign  invasions,  of  all  their  inhabitants  that 

Hi  by  due  right  and  obedience  subject  unto  them, 

8.  The  sixth  and  last  part  of  the  Prosperity  of  Ger- 
laany;  in  which  the  arcanas  already  revealed  in  the 
fifth  part,  are  not  only  illustrated  and  with  a  clear  elu- 
cidation, but  also  such  are  manifested  as  are  most 
highly  necessary  to  be  known  for  the  defence  of  the 
country  against  the  Turks.  Together  with  an  evi- 
deur  demonstration  adjoined,  showing;,  that  both  a 
particular  and  universal  transmutation  of  the  imper- 
fect metals  into  more  perfect  ones  by  salt  aad  tite,  li 


232  BISTORT  OF  CHlsnSTRT« 

most  true;  and  withal,  by  what  means  any  cme,  that  is 
endued  with  but  a  mean  knowledge  in  managing  the 
fire,  may  experimentally  try  the  truth  hereof  in  twen- 
ty-four hours'  space. 

9.  The  first  century  of  Glauber's  wealthy  Storehouse 
of  Treasures. — ^Many  of  the  processes  given  in  this 
treatise  are  mystically  stated,  or  even  concealed. 

1 0.  The  second,  tnird,  fourth,  and  fifth  century  of 
Glauber's  wealthy  Storehouse  of  Treasures. 

1 1 .  New  chemical  Light ;  being  a  revelation  of  a 
certain  new  invented  secret,  never  before  manifested 
to  the  world. — This  was  a  method  of  extracting  gold 
from  stones.  Probably  the  gold  found  by  Qanb^  in 
his  processes  existed  in  some  of  the  reagents  employ- 
ed ;  this,  at  least,  is  the  most  natural  way  of  account- 
ing for  the  result  of  Glauber*s  trials. 

>  15.  The  spagyrical  Pharmacopoeia,  or  Dispensatory. 
— In  this  book  he  treats  chiefly  of  medicines  pecuEarly 
his  own ;  one  of  those,  on  which  he  bestows  the  greatest 
praise,  is  secret  seu  ammaniacy  or  sulphate  of  ammo- 
nia. He  describes  the  method  of  preparing  this  salt, 
by  saturating  sulphuric  acid  with  ammonia.  He  in- 
i$>rms  us  that  it  was  much  employed  by  Paraodsas 
and  Van  Helmont,  who  distingnahed  it  by  the  name 
of  alAakesi. 

13.  BookofPires. — ^Foll  of  enemas. 

14.  Treatise  of  the  three  Principles  of  Metals ;  yix., 
sulphur,  mercury,  and  salt  of  phiksopheis ;  how  they 
may  be  profitably  used  in  medicine,  alchymy,  and 
other  arts. 

15.  A  ^lort  Book  of  Diakgues.  Chiefly  idatinp 
to  alchymy. 

lt>.  IProserpiiie,  or  the  Goddess  of  Ridics» 
17.  Of  Elias  the  Artist. 

1$.  Of  the  three  most  noble  Stones  gcnentedbf 
diree  Fires. 

19.  Of  the  Pnnralorr  of  Phik80|kl«R. 
20.  Qt'tlieaeakFaeorPkflnqpkeis. 


CUFMIBTRY  07'  THE  SKTENTEB1»TH  CEVTOTIY.   23S 

21.  A  Treatise  conceming  the  Animal  Stone. 

John  Kunkel,  who  acquired  a  high  reputation  as  a 
chemist,  was  born  in  the  Duchy  of  Sleswick,  in  ihe 
year  1 630 ;  his  father  was  a  trading  chemist,  or  apothe- 
cary ;  and  Kunkel  himself  had,  in  liis  younger  years, 
paid  great  attention  to  the  business  of  an  apothecary : 
lie  had  also  diligently  studied  the  different  processes 
of  glass-making;  and  had  paid  particular  attention  to 
the  assaying  of  metals.  In  the  year  1659,  he  was 
chamberlain,  chemist,  and  superintendent  of  apothe- 
caries to  the  dukes  Francis  Charles  and  Julius  Henry, 
of  Lauenbui^.  While  in  this  situation,  he  examined 
many  pretended  transmutations  of  metals,  and  under- 
took other  researches  of  importance.  From  this  situa- 
tion he  was  invited,  by  John  George  11.,  Elector  of 
Saxony,  on  the  recommendation  of  Dr.  Langelott  and 
Counsellor  Vogt,  as  chamberlain  and  superintendent 
of  the  elector's  laboratory,  with  a  considerable  salary. 
From  this  situation  he  went  to  Berlin,  where  he  was 
chemist  to  the  elector  Frederick  William ;  after  whose 
death,  his  laboratory  and  glass-house  were  accidentally 
burnt.  From  Berlin  he  was  invited  to  Stockholm  by 
Charles  XI.,  King  of  Sweden,  who  gave  him  the  title 
of  counsellor  of  metals;  and  raised  him  to  the  rank 
of  a  nobleman :  here  he  died,  in  1702,  in  the  seventy- 
second  year  of  his  age.  Kunkel's  greatest  discovery 
was,  the  method  of  extracting  phosphonis  from  urine. 
This  curiouB  substance  had  been  originally  discovered 
by  Brandt,  achemist,  of  Hamburg,  in  the  year  1669,  as 
he  was  attempting  to  extract  from  human  nrine  a  liquid 
capable  of  converting  silver  into  gold.  He  showed  a 
specimen  of  it  to  Kunkel,  with  whom  he  was  acquaint- 
ed :  Kunkel  mentioned  the  fact  as  a  piece  of  news  to 
one  Kraft,  a  friend  of  his  In  Dresden,  where  he  then 
Sesided:  Kraft  immediately  repaired  to  Hamburg, 
and  purchased  the  secret  from  Brandt  for  200  rix-dol- 
lars,  doubtless  exacting  from  him,  at  the  same  time, 
R  promise  not  to  reveal  it  to  any  other  person,    Sw^n. 


234  HtBTORT  Ot  CHBMI9T&y. 

after,  he  eidiibited  the  phosphorus  publicly  in  Britain 
and  in  France ;  whether  for  money,  or  not,  does  not 
appear.  Kunkel,  who  had  mentioned  to  his  friend  his 
intention  of  getting  possession  of  the  process,  being 
vexed  at  the  treacherous  conduct  of  Kraft,  attempted 
to  discover  it  himself,  and,  after  three  or  four  years 
labour,  he  succeeded,  though  all  that  he  knew  from 
Brandt  was,  that  urine  was  the  substance  from  which 
the  phosphorus  was  procured.  In  consequence  of  this 
success,  phosphorus  was  at  first  distinguished  by  the 
epithet  of  Kunkel  added  to  the  name. 

Kunkel  published,  in  1678,  a  treatise  on  phosphorus, 
in  which  he  describes  the  properties  of  this  substance, 
at  that  time  a  subject  of  great  wonder  and  curiosity. 
In  this  treatise,  he  proposes  phosphorus  as  a  remedy 
of  some  efficacy,  and  gives  a  formula  for  preparing 
pills  of  it,  to  be  taken  internally.  It  is  therefore  erro- 
neous to  suppose,  as  has  been  done,  that  the  intro- 
duction of  this  dangerous  remedy  into  medicine  is  4. 
modem  discovery.  Kunkel  appears  to  have  been  ac- 
quainted with  nitric  ether.  One  of  the  most  valuable 
of  his  books,  is  his  treatise  on  glass-making,  which 
was  translated  into  French ;  and  which,  till  nearly 
the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century,  constituted  by  far 
the  best  account  of  glass-making  in  existence.  Tha 
following  is  a  list  of  the  most  important  of  his  works: 

1 .  Observations  on  fixed  and  volatile  Salts,  potable 
Gold  and  Silver,  Spiritus  Mundi,  Sec. ;  also  of  the 
colour  and  smell  of  metals,  minerals,  and  bitumens.*-^ 
This  tract  was  published  at  Hamburg,  in  1678,  and 
has  been  several  times  reprinted  since. 

2.  Chemical  Remarks  on  the  chemical  Principles, 
acid,  fixed  and  volatile  alkaline  Salts,  in  the  three 
kingdoms  of  nature,  the  mineral,  vegetable,  and  ani^ 
mal ;  likewise  concerning  their  colour  and  smell,  &C.S 
with  a  chemical  appendix  against  non-entia  chymica. 

3.  Treatise  of  the  Phosphorus  muabilis,  and  ilt 
wonderful  shining  Pills;  together  with  a  diicouiteai 


CHEMISTRY  Of  THE  SBVMTTEEirTH  CEimmY.  934 

trhat  was  formerly  rightly  named  nitre,  but  is  now 
called  the  blood  of  nature. 

4    An  Epistle  against  Spirit  of  Wine  without  an  acid. 

5.  Touchstone  de  Acido  et  Urinoso,  Sale  calido  et 
frigido. 

6.  Ars  Vitraria  experimentalis. 

7.  Collegium  Phvsico-chymicum  experimentale,  or 
Laboratorium  chymicum.* 

Nicolas  Lemery,  the  first  Frenchman  who  completely 
stripped  chemistry  of  its  mysticism,  and  presented  it  to 
the  world  in  all  its  native  simplicity,  deserves  our  par- 
ticular attention,  in  consequence  of  the  celebrity  which 
he  acquired,  and  the  benefits  which  he  conferred  on 
the  science.  He  was  bom  at  Rouen  on  the  17th  of 
November,  1645.  His  father,  Julian  Lemery,  was 
procureur  of  the  Parliament  of  Normandy',  and  a  pro- 
testant.  His  son,  when  very  young,  showed  a  decided 
partiality  for  chemistry,  and  repaired  to  an  apothecary 
in  Rouen,  a  relation  of  his  own,  in  hopes  of  being 
initiated  into  the  science ;  but  finding  that  little  in- 
formation could  be  procured  from  him,  young  Lemery 
left  him  in  1666,  and  went  to  Paris,  where  he  boarded 
himself  with  M.  Glaser,  at  that  time  demonstrator  of 
chemistry  at  the  Jardin  du  Roi; 

Glaser  was  a  true  chemist,  according  to  the  mean- 
ing at  that  time  affixed  to  the  term — full  of  obscure 
notions — unwilling  to  communicate  what  knowledge 
he  possessed — and  not  at  all  sociable.  In  two  months 
Lemery  quitted  his  house  in  disgust,  and  set  out  with  a 
resolution  to  travel  through  France,  and  pick  up  che- 
mical information  as  he  best  could,  from  those  who 
were  capable  of  giving  him  information  on  the  subject. 
He  first  went  to  Montpelier,  where  he  boarded  in  the 
house  of  M.  Vershant,  an  apothecary  in  that  tpwn. 

*  I  have  never  seen  a  copjr  of  this  last  work ;  it  must  hare 
been  valuable,  as  it  wu  the  book  firom  which  Scheele  derived 
the  tot  mdimtnU  of  hit  knowledge. 


RIBTOBY  07  CnEMlSTHT. 

With  his  situation  there  he  was  so  much  pleased,  that 
he  continued  in  it  for  three  years :  he  employed  him-f 
self  assiduously  ia  the  laboratory,  and  in  teachmg 
chemistry  to  a  number  of  young  students  who  boarded 
with  his  host.  Here  his  reputation  gradually  increaaed. 
so  much,  that  he  drew  round  him  the  professors  of  the' 
faculty  of  medicine  of  Montpelier,  sind  all  the  curious 
of  the  place,  to  witness  his  experiments.  Here,  tooV 
he  practised  medicine  with  considerable  success. 

After  travelling  through  all  France,  he  returned  tO" 
Paris  in  1672.  Here  he  frequented  the  different 
scientific  meetings  at  that  time  held  in  that  capital,^ 
and  soon  distinguished  himself  by  his  chemical  know-' 
ledge.  In  a  few  years  he  got  a  laboratory  of  his  own/ 
commenced  apothecary,  and  began  to  give  public  lec- 
tures on  chemistry,  which  were  speedily  attended  bjr 
great  crowds  of  students  from  foreign  countries.  For 
example,  we  are  told  that  on  one  occasion  forty  Scotch* 
men  repaired  to  Paris  on  purpose  to  hear  his  lecturesi' 
and  those  of  M,  Du  Vemey  on  anatomy.  The  medi-' 
cines  which  he  prepared  in  his  laboratory  became' 
fashionable,  and  brought  him  a  great  deal  of  moneyl' 
The  magistery  of  biarauth  (or  pearl-white),  which  hif 
prepared  as  a  cosmetic,  was  sufficient,  we  are  told,  to' 
support  the  whole  expense  of  his  house.  In  the  yeai* 
1675  he  published  his  Cours  de  Chimie,  certainly  onfr 
of  the  most  successful  chemical  books  that  ever  ap^' 
peared  ;  it  ran  tlirough  a  vast  number  of  editions  in  ii 
few  years,  and  was  translated  into  Latin,  German, 
Spanish,  and  English. 

In  1681  he  began  to  be  troubled  in  consequence  of 
his  religious  opinions.  Louis  XIV,  was  at  that  time  ifl 
the  height  of  his  glory,  entirely  under  the  control  of 
liis  priests,  and  zealously  bent  upon  putting  an  end  ttf 
the  reformed  religion  in  his  dominions.  Indeed,  from 
the  infamous  conduct  of  Charles  II.  of  England,  and 
the  bigotry  of  his  successor,  a  prospect  was  opened  tft 
bim,  and  of  which  he  was  anxious  to  avail  himself,  of 


CH£]fISTR7  OF  TTHE  SEYXNTTEEVTH  CENTURY.  237 

fiimihilating  the  refonned  religion  altogether,  and  of 
plunging  Europe  a  second  time  into  the  darkness  of 
Roman  Catholicism. 

•  Lemery  found  it  expedient,  in  1683,  to  pass  over  into 
England.  Here  he  was  well  received  by  Charles  II. : 
but  England  was  at  that  time  convulsed  with  those 
religious  and  political  struggles,  which  terminated  five 
years  afterwards  in  the  revolution.  Lemery,  in  conse-^ 
quence  of  this  state  of  things,  found  it  expedient  to 
leave  England,  and  return  to  France.  He  took  a  doc- 
tor's degree  at  Caen,  in  Normandy ;  and,  returning  to 
Paris,  he  commenced  all  at  once  practitioner  in  medi* 
cine  and  surgery,  apothecary,  and  lecturer  on  chemis- 
try. The  edict  of  Nantes  was  revoked  in  1685,  when 
James  II.  had  assured  Louis  of  his  intention  to  over- 
turn the  established  religion,  and  bring  Great  Britain 
i^ain  under  the  dominion  of  the  pope.  Lemery  was 
obliged  to  give  up  practice  and  conceal  himself,  in 
order  to  avoid  persecution.  Finding  his  success  hope- 
less, as  long  as  he  continued  a  protestant,  he  changed 
his  religion  in  1686,  and  declared  himself  a  Roman 
catholic.  This  step  secured  his  fortune :  he  was  now 
as  much  caressed  and  protected  by  the  court  and  the 
clergy,  as  he  had  been  formerly  persecuted  by  them. 
In  1699  when  the  Academy  of  Sciences  was  new 
modelled,  he  was  appointed  associated  chemist,  and, 
on  the  death  of  Bourdelin,  before  the  end  of  that  year, 
he  became  a  pensioner.  He  died  on  the  19th  of  June, 
1715,  at  the  age  of  seventy,  in  consequence  of  an  at- 
tack of  palsy,  which  terminated  in  apoplexy. 

Besides  his  System  of  Chemistry,  which  has  been 
already  mentioned,  he  published  the  following  works : 

1.  Pharmacopee  universelle,  contenant  toutes  les 
Operations  de  Pharmacie  qui  sont  en  usage  dans  la 
Medicine. 

2.  Traite  universelle  des  Drogues  shnples  mis  en 
ordre  ^Iphabetique.  . 


238  BISTORT  or  CHSMiSTar. 

3.  Trait6  de  rAntimoine,  contenant  Tanalyse  chi* 
mique  de  ce  mineral. 

Besides  these  works,  five  different  papers  by  Le« 
fnery  were  printed  in  the  Memoirs  of  the  French  Aca- 
demy, between  1700  and  1709  inclusive.  These  are 
as  follow : 

1.  Explication  physique  et  chimique  des  Feuz  sou*- 
terrains,  des  tremblemens  deTerre,  des  Ouragans,  des 
Eclairs  et  duTonnere. — ^This  explanation  is  founded 
on  the  heat  and  combustion  produced  by  the  mutual 
action  of  iron  filings  and  sulpnur  on  each  other,  when 
mixed  in  large  quantities^ 

2.  Du  Camphre. 

3.  Du  Miel  et  de  son  analyse  chimique. 

4.  De  rUrine  de  Vache,  de  ses  effets  en  medicine 
et  de  son  analyse  chimique. 

5.  Reflexions  et  Experiences  sur  le  Sublime  Corro* 
sive. — It  appears  from  this  paper,  that  in  1709,  when 
Lemery  wrote,  corrosive  sublimate  was  considered  as 
a  compound  of  mercury  with  the  sulphuric  and  mu- 
riatic acids.  Lemery's  statement,  that  he  made  cor- 
rosive sublimate  simply  by  heating  a  mixture  of  mer- 
cury and  decrepitated  salt,  is  not  easily  explained. 
Probably  the  salt  which  he  had  employed  was  impure. 
This  is  the  more  likely,  because,  from  his  account  of 
the  matter  which  remained  at  the  bottom  of  the  ma- 
trass after  sublimation,  it  must  have  either  contained 
peroxide  of  iron  or  peroxide  of  mercury,  for  its  colour 
he  says  was  red. 

M.  Lemery  left  a  son,  who  was  also  a  member  of 
the  French  Academy ;  an  active  chemist,  and  author 
of  various  papers,  in  which  he  endeavours  to  give  % 
mechanical  explanation  of  chemical  phenomena. 

Another  very  active  member  of  the  French  Aca« 
demy,  at  the  same  time  with  Lemery,  was  M.  WiJliaift 
Romberg,  who  was  bom  on  the  8th  of  January,  1652, 
at  Batavia,  in  the  island  of  Java«    His  father,  Jolm 


CHEMISTRY  OF  THE  ftETEKTBSVTB   CEKTTJRY.   U9 

Homberg,  was  a  Saxon  gentleman,  who  had  beea 
stripped  of  all  his  property  during  the  thirty  years 
war.  After  receiving  some  education  by  the  care  of 
a  relation,  he  went  into  the  service  of  the  Dutch  East 
India  Company,  and  got  the  command  of  the  arsenal 
at  Batavia.  There  he  married  the  widow  of  an  officer^ 
by  whom  he  had  four  children,  of  whom  William  was 
the  second. 

His  father  quitted  the  service  of  the  India  Com- 
pany and  repaired  to  Amsterdam  with  his  family. 
Young  Homberg  studied  with  avidity :  he  devoted 
himself  to  the  law,  and  in  1674  was  admitted  advo-* 
cate  of  Magdeburg;  but  his  taste  for  natural  history 
and  science  was  great.  He  collected  plants  in  the 
neighbourhood,  and  made  himself  acquainted  with 
their  names  and  uses.  At  night  he  studied  the  stars, 
and  learned  the  names  and  positions  of  the  different 
constellations.  Thus  he  became  a  self-taught  bo- 
tanist and  astronomer.  He  constructed  a  hollow 
transparent  celestial  globe,  on  which,  by  means  of  a 
light  placed  within,  the  principal  fixed  stars  were  seen 
in  the  same  relative  positions  as  in  the  heavens. 

Otto  Guericke  was  at  that  time  burgomaster  of 
Magdeburg.  His  experiments  on  a  vacuum,  and  his 
invention  of  the  air-pump,  are  universally  known. 
Homberg  attached  himself  to  Otto  Guericke,  and  this 
philosopher,  though  fond  of  mystery,  either  explained 
to  him  his  secrets,  in  consequence  of  his  admiration 
of  his  genius,  or  was  unable  to  conceal. them  from 
his  penetration.  At  last  Homberg,  quite  tired  of  his 
profession  of  advocate,  left  Magdeburg  and  went  to 
Italy.  He  sojourned  for  some  time  at  Padua,  where 
he  devoted  himself  to  the  study  of  medicine,  anatomy, 
and  botany.  At  Bologna  he  examined  the  famous  Bo- 
logna stone,  the  nature  of  which  had  been  almost 
forgotten,  and  succeeded  in  making  a  pyrophorus 
out  of  it.  At  Rome  he  associated  particularly  with 
Marc-Antony  Cello,  famous  for  the  large  glasses 


240  HISTORY  OF  CHEMISTRT. 

for  telescopes  which  he  was  able  to  grind.  Nor 
did  he  neglect  painting,  sculpture,  and  music ;  pur^ 
suits  in  which,  at  that  time,  the  Italians  excelled  aU 
other  nations. 

From  Italy  he  went  to  France,  and  thence  passed 
into  England,  where  he  wrought  for  some  time  in  the 
laboratory  of  Mr.  Boyle,  at  that  time  one  of  the  most 
eminent  schools  of  science  in  Europe.  He  then 
passed  into  Holland,  studied  anatomy  under  De. 
Graaf,  and  after  visiting  his  family,  went  to  Wittem* 
berg,  where  he  took  fiie  degree  of  doctor  of  me- 
dicine. 

After  this  he  visited  Baldwin  and  Kunkel,  to  get 
more  accurate  information  respecting  the  phosphorns 
which  each  had  respectively  discovered.  He  pur- 
chsLsed  a  knowledge  of  Kunkel's  phosphorus,  by 
giving  in  exchange  a  meteorological  toy  of  Otto 
Guericke,  now  familiarly  known,  by  which  the  mois^ 
ture  or  dryness  of  the  air  was  indicated — a  little  man 
came  out  of  his  house  and  stood  at  the  door  in  dry 
weather,  but  retired  under  cover  in  moist  weather.  He 
next  visited  the  mines  of  Saxony,  Bohemia,  and 
Hungary  :  he  even  went  to  Sweden,  to  visit  the  cop- 
per-mines of  that  country.  At  Stockholm  he  wrought 
in  the  chemical  laboratory,  lately  established  by  the- 
king,  along  with  Hjema,  and  contributed  consider* 
ably  to  the  success  of  that  new  establishment. 

He  repaired  a  second  time  to  France,  where  he" 
spent  some  time,  actively  engaged  with  the  men  oii 
science  in  Paris.     His  father  strongly  pressed  him  to 
return  to  Holland  and  settle  as  a  physician :  he  at? 
last  consented,    and  the  day  of  his  departure  war-' 
come,  when,  just  as  he  was  going  into  his  carriage,  hei.' 
was  stopped  by  a  message  from  M.  Colbert  on  the- 
part  of  the  king.     Offers  of  so  advantageous  a  nature: 
were  made  him  if  he  would  consent  to  remain  in'' 
France,  that,  after  some  consideration,  he  was  in- 
dueed  to  embrace  them« 


r   OF  THE  SEVENTEENTH   CENTtTRT.  241 

2  he  chang;ed  his  religion  and  became  Ro- 
man catholic :  this  induced  his  father  to  disinherit 
him.  In  1688  he  went  to  Rome,  where  he  practised 
medicine  with  considerable  snccess.  A  few  yeari 
after  he  returned  to  Paris,  where  his  knowledge  and 
discoveries  gave  him  a  vei'y  high  reputation.  In  1691 
he  became  a  member  of  the  Academy  of  Sciences, 
and  got  the  direction  of  the  laboratory  belonging  to  the 
academy :  this  enabled  him  to  devote  his  undivided 
attention  to  chemical  investigations.  In  1702  he  was 
taken  into  the  service  of  the  Duke  of  Orleans,  who 
gave  him  a  pension,  and  put  him  in  possession  of  the 
most  splendid  and  complete  laboratory  that  had  ever 
been  seen.  He  was  presented  with  the  celebrated 
burning-glass  of  M.  Tchirnhaus,  by  the  Duke  of  Or- 
leans, and  was  enabled  by  means  of  it  to  determine 
many  points  that  had  hitherto  been  only  conjectural. 

In  1704  he  was  made  first  physician  to  the  Duke 
of  Orleans,  who  honoured  him  with  his  particular 
esteem.  This  appointment  obliging  him  to  reside  out 
of  Paris,  would  nave  made  it  necessary  for  him  to  re- 
sign his  seat  in  the  academy,  had  not  the  king  made 
a  special  exemption  in  his  favour.  In  1708  he  mar- 
ried a  daughter  of  the  famous  M.  Dodart,  to  whom 
he  had  been  long  attached.  Some  years  after  he  was 
attacked  by  a  dysentery,  which  was  cured,  but  re- 
turned from  time  to  time.  In  1715  it  returned  with 
great  violence,  and  Homberg  died  on  the  24th  of 
September, 

His  knowledge  was  nncommonly  great  in  almost 
every  department  of  science.  His  chemical  papers 
were  very  numerous;  though  there  are  few  of  them, 
in  this  advanced  period  of  the  science  that  are  likely 
to  claim  much  attention  from  the  chemical  world. 
His  pyrophoms,  of  which  he  has  given  a  description 
in  the  Memoires  de  I'Academie,*  was  made  by  mixing 

_•  Form,  p,238. 


343  BiStO&t  Of  Ch£MXSTRY* 

together  human  feeces  and  alum,  and  roasting  the 
mixture  till  it. was  reduced  to  a  dry  powder.  It  was. 
then  exposed  in  a  matrass  to  a  red  heat,  till  every 
thing  combustible  was  driven  off.  Any  combustibla 
will  do  as  a  substitute  for  human  feeces — gum,  flour^ 
sugar,  charcoal,  may  be  used.  When  a  little  of  this 
phosphorus  is  poured  upon  paper,  it  speedily  catches 
fire  and  kindles  the  paper.  Davy  first  explained  tha 
nature  of  this  phosphorus.  The  potash  of  the  alum, 
is  converted  into  potassium,  which,  by  its  absorption, 
of  oxygen  from  the  atmosphere,  generates  heat,  and 
sets  fire  to  the  charcoal  contained  in  the  powder. 

Romberg's  papers  printed  in  the  Memoirs  of  tha 
French  Academy  amount  to  thirty-one.  They  are  to 
be  foimd  in  the  volumes  for  1699  to  1714  inclusive. 

M.  Geoffroy,  who  was  a  member  of  the  academy 
about  the  same  time  with  Lemery  and  Hombergi^ 
though  he  outlived  them  both,  and  who  was  an  active 
chemist  for  a  considerable  number  of  years,  deserves 
also  to  be  mentioned  here. 

Stephen  Francis  Geoffroy  was  born  in  Paris  on  tha 
iSth  of  February,  1672,  where  his  father  was  an 
apothecary.  While  a  young  man,  regular  meetings, 
of  the  most  eminent  scientific  men  of  Paris  were  held 
in  his  father's  house,  at  which  he  was  always  presents 
Tliis  contributed  very  much  to  increase  his  taste  foE 
scientific  pursuits.  After  this  he  studied  botany, 
chemistry,  and  anatomy  in  Paris.  In  1692  his  fsM 
ther  sent  him  to  Montpelier,  to  study  pharmacy  in  the 
house  of  a  skilful  apothecary,  who  at  the  same  time 
sent  his  ^on  to  Paris,  to  acquire  the  same  art  in  the 
house  of  M.  Geoffroy,  senior.  Here  he  attended  the 
different  classes  in  the  university,  and  his  name  begsii 
to  be  known  as  a  chemist.  After  spending  some  timo 
in  Montpelier,  he  travelled  round  the  coast  to  see  the 
principal  seaports,  and  was  at  St.  Malo's  in  1693^ 
when  it  was  bombarded  by  the  British  fleet. 

In  1698  Count  Tallard  being  appointed  ambassador 


CHEMISTRY   Of  THE  SEVEVTEEKTU  CENTURT.  S43 

extraordinary  to  London,  made  choice  of  M.  Geoffroy 
as  hii  physician,  though  he  had  not  t^en  a  medical 
degree.  Here  he  made  mjiny  valuable  acquaintances, 
and  was  elected  a  fellow  of  the  Royal  Society-  From 
London  he  went  to  Holland,  and  tlience  into  Italy,  in 
1700,  where  he  went  in  the  capacity  of  phyaician  to 
H.  de  Louvois.  The  great  object  of  M.  Geoffroy  was 
always  natural  history,  and  materia  medica.  In  1693 
h«  had  subjected  himself  to  an  examination,  and  he 
had  been  declared  quoiilied  to  act  as  an  apothecary  ; 
but  his  own  object  was  to  be  a  physician,  while  that 
of  his  father  was  that  he  should  succeed  himself  as  an 
apothecary :  this  in  some  measure  regulated  his 
education.  At  last  he  declared  his  intentions,  and 
his  father  agreed  to  thera ;  he  became  bachelor  of 
medicine  in  1702,  and  doctor  of  medicine  in  1704. 

Id  1709  he  was  made  professor  of  medicine  in  tha 
Royal  College.  In  1707  he  began  to  lecture  on 
chemistry,  at  the  Jardin  dn  Eoi,  in  place  of  M.  Pa- 
gan, and  continued  to  teach  this  important  class  durmg 
die  remainder  of  his  life.  In  1726  he  was  chosen 
dean  of  the  faculty  of  medicine;  and,  after  the  two 
years  for  which  he  was  elected  was  finished,  he  wai 
again  chosen  to  fill  the  same  situatbn.  There  existed 
at  that  time  a  lawsuit  between  the  physicians  and 
surgeons  in  Paris;  a  kind  of  civil  war  very  injurious 
to  both  ;  and  the  mildness  and  suavity  of  his  mannen 
fitted  him  particularly  for  being  at  the  head  of  the 
body  of  physicians  during  ila  continuance.  He  became 
a  member  of  the  academy  la  1<599,  and  died  on  ths 
6th  of  January,  1731. 

The  most  important  of  all  his  chemical  labours,  and 
for  which  he  will  always  be  remembered  in  the  annals 
of  the  science,  was  the  contrivance  which  he  fell  upon, 
in  1718,  of  exhibiting  the  order  of  chemical  decom- 
poaitione  under  the  form  of  a  table.*    This  method 

•  Mew.Piris.  1718,  p.MZi  end  1720,  p.  20, 


BISTORT  OF  CHEMUTKT. 


was  afterwards  much  enlarged  and  improved.  Such 
tables  are  now  usually  known  by  the  name  of  tablet 
ofaffiaily;  aDd,  though  they  have  been  oflate  years 
somewhat  neg^lecied,  there  can  be  but  one  opinion  of 
their  importance  when  properly  constructed. 

M.  GeofiVoy  first  communicated  to  the  French  che- 
mists the  mode  of  making  Prussian  blue,  as  Dr. 
Woodward  did  to  the  English. 

Claude  Joseph  GeoflVoy,  the  younger  brother  of  the 
preceding,  was  also  a  member  of  the  Academy  of 
Sciences,  and  a  zealous  cultivator  of  chemistry.  Many 
of  liis  chemical  papers  are  to  be  found  in  the  raemoira 
of  the  French  Academy.  He  demonstrated  the  com- 
position of  sal  ammoniac,  which  however  was  known 
to  Glauber.  He  made  many  experiments  upon  the 
combustion  of  the  volatile  oils,  by  pouring  nitric  acid 
on  them.  He  explained  the  pretended  property  which, 
certain  waters  have  of  converting  iron  into  copper,  by 
showing  that  in  such  cases  copper  was  held  in  solu- 
tion in  the  water  by  an  acid,  and  that  the  iron  merely 
precipitated  the  copper,  and  was  dissolved  and  com- 
bined with  the  acid  in  its  place.  He  pointed  out  thft 
constituents  of  the  three  vitriols,  the  green,  the  blue, 
and  the  white ;  showing  that  the  two  former  were 
combinations  of  sulphuric  acid  with  oxides  of  iron  and 
copper,  and  the  latter  a  solution  of  lapis  calaminaiil 
{carbonate  of  zinc)  in  the  same  acid.  He  has  also  & 
memoir  on  the  emeticity  of  antimony,  tartar  emetic, 
and  kevmes  mineral ;  but  it  is  rather  medical  thaa 
chemical.  He  determined  experimentally  the  nature 
of  the  salt  of  Seignette,  or  Rochelle  salt,  and  showed 
that  it  was  obtained  by  saturating  cream  of  tartar  with 
carbonate  of  soda,  and  crystallizing.  It  is  curious  that 
this  discovery  was  made  about  the  same  time  by  M. 
Boulduc.  i  have  noticed  only  a  few  of  the  papers  of 
M.  Geotfroy,  junior;  because,  though  they  all  do  hits 
credit,  and  contributed  to  the  improvement  of  che- 
laistry,  yet  none  of  them  contain  any  of  those  great. 


CHEMISTRY  Of  THB  SXTEVTEEHTH  GEKTURY.  245 

diflooveries,  which  stand  as  landmarks  in  the  progress 
fOf  sdence,  and  constitute  an  era  in  the  history  of 
joankind.  For  the  same  reason  I  omit  several  other 
names  that,  in  a  more  minute  history  of  chemistry, 
would  desenre  to  be  particularized. 


I  ' 


14d  HlfttOET  or  CHEtf  I9TBT. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 


or  THE  ATTEMPTS  TO  ESTABLISH  A  THEORY  IN  CHEMIST&T. 

Bacon,  Lord  Verulam,  as  early  as  the  commence- 
ment of  the  17th  century,  had  pointed  out  the  im- 
portance of  chemical  investigations,  and  had  predicted 
the  immense  advantages  which  would  result  from  the 
science,  when  it  came  to  be  properly  cultivated  and 
extended ;  but  he  did  not  himself  attempt  either  to 
construct  a  theory  of  chemistry,  or  even  to  extend  it 
beyond  the  bounds  which  it  had  reached  before  he 
began  to  write.  Neither  did  Boyle,  notwithstanding 
the  importance  of  his  investigations,  and  his  compa* 
rative  freedom  from  the  prejudices  of  the  alchymists, 
attempt  any  thing  like  a  theory  of  chemistry ;  though 
the  observations  which  he  made  in  his  Sceptical  Che- 
mist, had  considerable  effect  in  overturning,  or  at  least 
in  hastening  the  downfal  of  the  absurd  chemical  opi- . 
nions  which  at  that  time  prevailed,  and  the  puerile 
hypotheses  respecting  the  animal  functions,  and  the- 
pathology  and  treatment  of  diseases  founded  on  these 
opinions.  The  first  person  who  can  with  propriety  be 
said  to  have  attempted  to  construct  a  theory  of  che- 
mistry, was  Beccher. 

John  Joachim  Beccher,  one  of  the  most  extraordi- 
nary men  of  the  age  in  which  he  lived,  was  bom  at; 
Spires,  in  Gennaay,  ia  the  year  1635.    His  fitther,  aii 


•tHBORT  US  CHEMISTRY.  24t 

Beccher  himself  infonns  us,  was  a  very  learned  Lutheran 
preacher.  As  he  lost  his  father  when  he  was  very 
young,  and  as  that  part  of  Germany  where  he  lived 
had  been  ruined  by  the  thirty  years'  war,  his  family 
was  reduced  to  great  poverty.  However,  his  passion 
for  information  was  so  great,  that  he  contrived  to 
educate  himself  by  studying  what  books  he  could 
procure,  and  in  this  way  acquired  a  great  deal  of 
knowledge.  Afterwards  he  travelled  through  the 
greatest  part  of  Germany,  Italy,  Sweden,  and  Holland. 
In  the  year  1666  he  was  appointed  public  professor 
of  medicine  in  the  University  of  Mentz,  and  soon  after 
chief  physician  to  the  elector.  In  that  capacity  he 
took  up  his  residence  in  Munich,  where  he  was  fur- 
nished by  the  elector  with  an  excellent  laboratory : 
but  he  soon  fell  into  difficulties,  the  nature  of  which 
does  not  appear,  and  was  obliged  to  leave  the  place. 
He  took  refuge  in  Vienna,  where,  from  his  knowledge 
of  finance,  he  was  appointed  chamberlain  to  Count 
Zinzendorf,  and  through  him  acquired  so  much  im- 
portance in  the  eyes  of  the  court,  that  he  was  named 
a  member  of  the  newly-erected  College  of  Commerce, 
and  obtained  the  title  of  imperial  commercial  coun* 
sellor  and  chamberlain.  But  here  also  he  speedily 
raised  up  so  many  enemies  against  himself,  that  he 
found  it  necessary  to  leave  Vienna,  and  to  carry  with 
him  his  wife  and  children.  He  repaired  to  Holland, 
and  settled  at  Haerlem  in  1678.  Here  he  was  likely  to 
have  been  successful ;  but  his  enemies  from  Vienna 
followed  him,  and  obliged  him  to  leave  Holland.  In 
1680  we  find  him  in  Great  Britain,  where  he  examined 
the  Scottish  lead-mines,  and  smelting- works ;  and  in 
1681,  and  1682,  he  traversed  Cornwall,  and  studied 
the  mines  and  smeltingr works  of  that  great  mining 
county ;  here  he  suggested  several  improvements 
and  ameliorations.  Soon  after  this  an  advantageous 
proposal  was  made  to  him  by  the  Duke  of  Mecklen- 
burg Gustrow,  by  means  of  Count  Zinzendorf ;  \^>x\.  ^ 


I 


I 


S48  HISTORY  OF 

his  projects  were  arrested  by  his  death,  vfaich  took 
place  in  the  year  16S2.  It  is  said  that  he  died  in 
London,  but  1  have  not  been  able  to  find  any  evidence 
of  this. 

It  would  be  a  diffirult  task  to  particularize  bis 
various  discoveries,  which  are  scattered  through  a  mul- 
tiphcity  of  writings.  He  was  undoubtedly  the  first ' 
discoverer  of  botacic  acid,  thougb  the  credit  of  the 
discovery  has  usually  been  given  to  Homberg.*  But 
then  he  givea  no  account  of  boracic  acid,  nor  does  he 
seem  to  have  attended  to  its  qualities.  The  following* 
is  a  list  of  Beccher's  writings : 

1,  Metallurgia,  or  the  Natural  Science  of  Metals. 
3.  Institutiones  Chymicec. 

3.  Parnassus  Medicinalis  illustrata. 

4.  CEdipus  Chymicus  seu  Institutiones  ChymicEe. 

5.  Acta  laboratorii  Chymici  Monacensis  sen  Phywca 
Subterranea. — ^This,  which  is  the  most  important  of  all 
his  works,  is  usually  known  by  the  name  of  "  Physica 
Subterranea."  This  is  the  sole  title  afBsed  to  it  in  the 
edition  published  at  Leipsic,  in  1703,  to  which  Stahl 
has  prefixed  a  long  introduction.  It  is  divided  into 
seven  sections.  In  the  first  he  treats  of  the  creation 
of  the  world ;  in  the  second  he  gives  a  chemical  ac- 
count of  the  motions  and  changes  which  are  constantly 
going  on  in  the  earth  ;  in  the  third  he  treats  of  tha 
three  principles  of  all  bodies,  which  he  calls  earths. 
The  first  of  these  principles  of  metals  and  stones  is  thq 
funhle  or  stony  earth ;  the  second  principle  of  mine- 
rals is  the  Jat  earth,  improperly  called  sulphur ;  thd 
third  principle  is  the  Jluid  earth,  improperly  called 
mercury  ;  in  the  fourth  section  he  treats  of  the  action 

*  la  the  sixth  clicmJcal  thpsls,  in  the  EeconJ  supplement  to 
the  Physica  Suhtcrmnen  (page  791,  StBhl's  Edition.  Lipain, 
1703),  he  sayR,  "  tibi  cliani,  cuntinuato  ignc,  ipst'>n  ssl  volMila 
■equires,  quail  eailem  niethodo  cum  vitrinlo  aeu  spirittt  aut  oleO 
vitrioli,  et.olco  torlari,  vel  ioraee  succedit.". 


of  fabCamBeow  pmcyleg,  or  die  ionuudaa  of  awcCt; 
ia  the  6&h  be  tveals  of  tiie  tolstion  of  the  three 
cliMes  of  mixtft,  aziimils,  TcgeUbles,  and  melak; 
m  the  sixth  he  treats  of  mixts,  in  which  he  gives  their 
dbemical  ccmstitiieiits.  This  sectioa  is  very  coiioas, 
becanse  it  gives  Becxrher^s  liem  of  the  coDStitntioa  of 
coBipooDd  bodies.  It  will  be  seen  from  it  that  he 
had  much  more  correct  notions  of  the  leal  objects  of 
diemistry,  than  any  of  his  oontemporaries.  In  the 
serenth  and  last  section  he  treats  of  the  accidents  and 
physical  afiections  of  subtenaneous  bodies. 

6.  Experimentom  Chymicum  noTum  quo  artificialis 
et  instantanea  metallomin  goieratio  et  transmutatio, 
ad  ocolmn  denKmstratar. — ^This  constitutes  the  first 
supplement  to  the  Physica  Subterranea. 

7.  Supplementum  secundum  in  Physicam  subter- 
raneam,  demonstratio  philosophica  seu  Theses  Chy- 
micee,  veiitatem  et  possibilitatem  transmutationis  me* 
taUorum  in  aurum  erincentes. 

8.  Trifolium  Beccherianum  Hollandicum. 

9.  Experimentum  novum  et  curiosum  de  Minera 
arenaria  perpetua,  sive  prodromus  historice  seu  propo* 
sitionis  Prsep.  D.D.  Hollandise  ordinibus  ab  authore 
fades,  circa  auri  extractionem  mediante  arena  littorali 
per  modum  mbem  perpetute  seu  operationis  ma^« 
nisorise  cum  emolumento.  Loco  supplementi  tertii  in 
Physicam  suam  subterraneam. 

10.  Chemical  Luckpot,  or  great  chemical  agreement ; 
in  a  collection  of  one  thousand  five  hundred  chemical 
processes. 

11.  Foolish  Wisdom  and  wise  Folly, 

12.  Magnalia  Naturee. 

13.  Tripus  Hermeticus  fatidicus  pandens  oracula 
chemica ;  seu  I.  Laboratorium  portatite,  cum  methodo 
vere  spagyricte  seu  juxtaexigentiam  naturee  laborandi. 
Accessit  pro  praxi  et  exemplo ;  II.  Centrum  mundi 
concatenatum  seu  Duumviratus  hermeticus  s.  magno- 
rum  duorum  productorum  nitri  et  salis  texturaet  ana** 


250  HTSToar  of  chexistut. 

tomia  atqae  in  omnium  pnecedentium  confirmationem 
adjunctumest;  III.  Alphabetum  Minerale  sen  viginti 
quatuor  theses  de  subterraneorum  mineralinm  genesi, 
textura  et  analvsi ;  his  accessit  concordantia  mercurii 
lunse  et  menstruorum. 

14.  Chemical  Rose-garden. 

15.  Pantaleon  delarvatus. 

16.  Beeoheri,  Lancelotti,  etc.  Epistols  quatnor  Che- 
miese. 

Beccher's  great  merit  was  the  contrivance  of  a  che- 
mical theorv,  bv  which  all  the  known  facts  were  con-* 
nected  together  and  deduced  from  one  general  prin- 
ciple. But  as  this  theory  was  adopted  and  considerably 
moditieil  by  Stahl,  it  will  be  better  to  lay  a  sketch  of 
it  before  the  reader,  after  mentioning  a  few  particulars 
of  the  lite  and  labours  of  one  of  the  most  extraordinary 
men  whom  Germany  has  produced ;  a  man  who,  in 
spite  of  the  moroseuess  and  haughtiness  of  his  cha- 
racter, and  in  spite  of  the  barbarity  of  his  style,  raised 
himself  to  the  very  tirst  rank  as  a  man  of  science ; 
and  had  the  rare  or  almost  unique  fortune  of  giving 
laws  at  the  same  time  to  two  diiferent  and  important 
sciences,  which  he  cultivated  together,  without  letting 
his  opinions  respecting  the  one  influence  him  with 
regard  to  the  other.  These  sciences  were  chemistry 
and  medicine. 

George  Ernest  Stahl  was  bom  at  Anspach,  in  the 
year  1660.  He  studied  medicine  at  Jena  under 
Greorge  Wolfgang  Wedel ;  and  got  his  doctor's  degree 
at  the  age  of  twenty-three.  Immediately  after  this  he 
began  his  career  as  a  public  lecturer.  In  1687  the 
I)uke  of  Weimar  gave  him  the  title  of  physician  to 
the  court.  In  1694  he  was  named,  at  the  solicitation 
of  Frederick  Hoffmann,  second  professor  of  medicine 
in  the  University  of  Halle,  which  had  just  been  esta- 
blished. Hoffmann  and  he  were  at  that  time  great 
friends,  though  they  afterwards  quarrelled.  Both  of 
them  were  men  of  the  very  highest  talents^  and  botit 


THEOKT  rS  CHEMISTT.  251 

#ere  tbe  ibimden  oi  medical  systems  which,  of  course, 
each  was  anxious  to  snpporL  Hofimann  had  greatly 
the  tuperionty  in  elegance  and  clearness  of  style, 
and  in  all  the  amenities  of  polite  manners.  But  per- 
hi^  the  moroseness  of  Stahl,  and  the  obscurity,  or 
ra^r  mysticism  of  his  style,  contributed  equally  with 
the  more  amiable  qualities  of  Hofimann  to  excite  the 
attention  and  produce  the  veneration  with  which  he 
was  viewed  by  his  pupils,  and,  indeed,  by  the  world 
at  large. 

At  Halle  he  continued  as  a  teacher  of  medicine  for 
twenty-two  years.  In  1716  he  was  appointed  phy- 
aician  to  the  King  of  Prussia.  In  consequence  of  this 
appointment  he  left  Halle,  and  resided  in  Berlin, 
where  he  died  in  the  year  1734,  in  the  seventy-fifth 
year  of  his  age.  Notwithstanding  the  great  figure 
that  Stahl  made  as  a  chemist,  there  is  no  evidence 
that  he  ever  taught  that  science  in  any  public  school. 
Tbe  Berlin  Academy  had  been  founded  under  the  su- 
perintendence of  Leibnitz,  who  was  its  first  president; 
end  therefore  existed  when  Stahl  was  in  Berlin  :  but, 
till  it  was  renovated  in  1745  by  Frederick  the  Great, 
this  academy  possessed  but  little  activity,  and  could 
scarcely,  therefore,  have  stimulated  Stahl  to  attend 
to  chemical  science.  However,  his  Chymia  rationalis 
et  experimentalis  was  published  in  1720,  while  he  re- 
sided in  Berlin.  The  same  date  is  appended  to  the 
preface  of  his  Fundamenta  Chymise ;  but,  from  some 
expressions  in  that  preface,  it  must,  I  should  think, 
have  been  written,  not  by  Stahl,  but  by  some  other 
person.*  I  suspect  that  the  book  had  been  written  by 
some  of  his  pupils,  from  the  lectures  of  the  author 
while  at  Halle.    If  Uiis  was  really  the  case,  it  is  obvious 


*  *' Primus  in  his  facem  pnetuUt  fiecchenu ;  eumqne  magno 
ciim'artis  progressu  sequentem  videmus  in  ostendenda  corporum 
analvBi  tt  syntbcsi  cbymica  versatissimttm  et  aoutissimum— 


I 


that  Statl  must  have  taught  chemistry  as  well  a» 
medicJDe  in  the  University  of  Halle.  , 

Stahl's  medical  theory  is  not  less  deserving  of  notice 
tban  his  chemical.  But  it  is  not  the  object  of  this 
work  to  enter  into  medical  speculations.  Like  Vaa 
Helmont,  he  resolved  all  diseases  into  the  actions  (rf 
the  «ou/,  which  was  not  merely  the  former  of  the  body, 
but  its  ruler  and  regulator.  When  any  of  the  fuDo 
lions  are  deranged,  the  soul  exerU  itself  to  restore 
them  again  to  their  healthy  state;  and  she  accom- 
plishes this  by  what  in  common  langui^e  is  called 
disease.  The  business  of  a  medical  man,  then,  is  aot 
to  prevent  diseases,  or  to  stop  them  short  when  they; 
appear  ;  because  they  are  the  efforts  of  the  soul,  thq 
vit  medicatrix  natur/E,  to  restore  the  deranged  state  <^ 
the  functions  :  but  he  must  watch  these  diseases,  and 
prevent  the  symptoms  from  becoming  too  violent.  Ho 
must  assist  nature  to  produce  the  intended  effect,  and 
check  her  exertions  when  they  become  abnormal.  It. 
was  a  kind  of  modification  of  this  theory,  or  rather 
mixture  of  the  Stahlian  and  Hoffmannian  theories,  that. 
Dr.  Cullen  afterwards  taught  in  Edinbui^h  ynik 
much  eclat.  And  these  opinions,  so  far  as  medical 
theories  have  any  influence  on  practice,  still  contino^, 
in  some  measure  prevalent.  Indeed,  much  of  tba 
vulgar  practice  followed  by  medical  men,  chiefly  ia 
consequence  of  the  education  which  they  have  t»tf 
ceived,  is  deduced  from  these  two  theories.  B«t 
it  would  be  too  great  a  digression  from  the  object: 
of  this  work  to  enter  into  any  details;  suffice  it  to 
Bay,  that  the  rival  theories  of  Hoffmann  and  Stahl  (or 
many  years  divided  the  medical  world  in  Germany,  if 
not  m  the  greater  part  of  Europe.  It  was  no  small 
matter  of  exultation  to  so  young  a  medical  school 
Halle,  to  have  at  once  within  its  walls  two  such  en 
nent  teachers  as  Hoffmann  and  Stahl. 

Let  us  turn  our  attention  to  the  chemical  writings  of 
Stahl.    Of  these  the  most  important  is  his  Fuudameuta 


TitMRT  IS  cmzMiHTur,  253 

Chymiee  dogmaticffi  et  esperimentalis.  It  is  divided, 
like  the  cherabtry  of  Boerhaave,  into  a  theoretical  and 
practical  part.  The  perusal  of  it  is  very  disagreeable, 
as  it  is  full  of  German  words  and  phrases,  and  symbols 
are  almost  constantly  substituted  for  words,  as  was  at 
that  time  the  custom. 

His  definitioQ  of  chemistry  ia  much  more  exact 
than  Boerhaave's.  It  is,  according  to  him,  the  art  of 
resolving  compound  bodies  into  their  constituents,  and 
of  again  forming  them  by  uniting  these  constituents 
together. 

He  is  inclined  to  believe  with  Beccber.  that  the 
simple  principles  are  four  in  number.  The  mixtg  are 
compoimds  of  these  principles ;  and  he  shows  by  the 
doctrine  of  permutations  that  if  we  suppose  the  sun  pie 
principles  four,  then  the  number  of  mixts  will  be 
40,340.  He  treats  in  the  first  place  of  mixts,  com- 
pounds, and  aggregates. 

The  first  object  of  chemistry  is  corruption,  the  se- 
cond generation.  Of  these  be  treats  at  considerable 
length,  giving  an  account  of  the  different  chemical 
processes,  and  of  the  apparatus  employed. 

He  next  treats  of  salts,  which  he  defines  mixts 
composed  of  water  and  earth;  both  simple  and  pure, 
and  intimately  united.  The  salts  are  vitriol,  alum, 
nitre,  common  salt,  and  sal  ammoniac.  He  next  treats 
of  more  compound  salts.  These  are  sugar,  tartar,  salts 
from  the  animal  and  salts  from  the  mineral  kingdom, 
and  quicklime. 

After  this  comes  sulphur,  cinnabar,  antimony,  the 
sulphur  of  vitTJol,  the  sulphur  of  nitre,  resins,  and 
distilled  oils.  Then  he  treats  of  water,  which  he  di- 
vides into  aqua  hwrnida  or  common  water,  and  aqua 
sicca  or  mercury.  Next  be  treats  of  earths,  which 
are  of  Iwo  kinds,  viz.,  friable  earths,  such  as  cla^, 
loam,  sand,  &c.,and  metallic  earths  constituting  the 
bases  of  the  metals. 

He  next  treats  of  the  metals ;  and,  as  a  prelioiinary, 


254  BI8T0KT  OF  CHEinSTftT. 

we  have  a  description  of  the  method  of  uneltiiigy  and 
operating  upon  the  different  metals.  The  metSs  are 
then  described  successively,  in  the  following  order  x 
Gold,  silver,  copper,  iron,  tin,  lead,  bismuth,  zinc^ 
^timony. 

To  this  part  of  the  system  are  added  three  sections* 
The  first  treats  of  mercuries,  the  second  of  the  philoso* 
pher's  stone,  and  the  third  of  the  universal  medicine* 
We  must  not  suppose  that  Stahl  was  a  believer  in  these 
ideal  compositions;  his  object  is  merely  to  give  a 
history  of  the  different  processes  which  had  been  re-» 
commended  by  the  alchymists. 

The  second  part  of  his  work  is  divided  into  two 
tracts.  The  first  tract  contains  three  sections.  The  first 
of  these  treats  of  the  nature  of  solids  and  fluids,  of  solu-* 
tions  and  menstrua,  of  the  effects  of  heat  and  fire, 
of  effervescence  and  boiling,  of  volatilization,  of  fu-» 
sion  and  liquefaction,  of  distillation,  of  precipitation, 
of  calcination  and  incineration,  of  detonation,  of 
amalgamation,  of  crystallization  and  inspissation,  and 
of  the  fixity  and  firmness  of  bodies.  In  the  second 
section  we  have  an  account  of  salts,  and  of  their 
generation  and  transmutation,  of  sulphur  and  in- 
flammability, of  phosphorus,  of  colours,  and  of  thf 
nature  of  metals  and  minerals.  In  this  article  he 
gives  short  definitions  of  these  bodies,  and  shows  how 
they  may  be  known.  The  bodies  thus  defined  ars 
gold,  silver,  iron,  copper,  lead,  tin,  mercury,  anti* 
mony,  sulphur,  arsenic,  vitriol,  common  salt,  nitre^ 
alum,  sal  ammoniac,  alkalies,  and  salts  ;  viz.,  muriatic 
acid,  sulphuric,  nitric,  and  sulphurous. 

In  the  third  section  he  treats  of  the  method  of  rCt 
ducing  metallic  calces,  of  the  mode  of  separating  m»* 
tals  from  their  scoriee,  of  the  mode  of  making  artificial 
gems,  and  finally  of  the  mode  of  giving  copper  % 
golden  colour. 

The  second  tract  is  divided  into  two  parts.  Thefiiit 
nart  is  subdivided  into  four  sections.     In  the  ^xit 


tOEOS;  IK  CBSUIIIBI. 

EectioH  he  treats  of  the  instruments  of  chemical  mo- 
tion, of  fire,  of  air,  of  water,  of  the  most  subtile  earth  or 
salt.  In  the  second  section  he  treats  de  tubjectU,  under 
the  several  heads  of  dissolving  aggregatea,  of  tritura- 
tions and  solutions,  and  of  ralcinations  and  combus- 
tioDE.  la  the  third  section  he  treats  of  the  object  of 
chemistry  under  the  following  heads :  Of  chemical 
corruption,  consisting  of  compounds  from  liquids,  of 
the  separation  of  solids  and  fluids,  of  mixts,  of  the 
solution  of  compounds  from  solids.  In  the  fourth 
section  he  treats  of  fermentation. 

Tlie  second  part  of  this  second  tract  treats  of  che- 
mical generation,  and  is  divided  into  two  sections.  In 
the  first  section  he  treats  of  the  aggregate  coUectiou 
of  bodies  into  fluids  and  solids.  The  section  treats  of 
compositions  under  the  heads  of  volatile  and  solid 
bodies.  He  gives  in  the  last  article  an  account  of  the 
combination  of  niixtB. 

The  third  and  last  part  of  this  elaborate  work  dis-. 
cusses  threesubjects;  viz.  zymotechniaozfei-mentation, 
hiilotecknia,  or  the  production  and  properties  of  salts, 
z.-a6,  pyrotechnia,  in  which  the  whole  of  the  Stahlian 
doctrine  of  jiA/cpiis/on  is  developed.  This  tliird  part 
has  all  the  appearance  of  having  been  notes  written 
down  by  some  person  during  the  lectures  of  Stahi :  for 
it  consists  of  alternate  sentences  of  JLatin  and  Ger- 
man. It  is  not  at  all  likely  that  Stahl  himself  would 
have  produced  such  a  piebald  work;  but  if  he  lec- 
ttued  in  Latin,  as  waB  at  that  time  the  universal  cus- 
toflJf  it  was  natural  for  a  person  occupied  in  taking 
Uvm  the  lectures,  to  write  as  far  as  was  possible  in 
lAtin,  but  vhen  any  of  the  Latin  phrases  were  lost,  or 
did  not  immediately  occur  to  memory,  it  were  equally 
OatwBl  to  write  down  the  meaning  of  what  the  pro- 
^aiOF  stated  iu  the  language  most  familiar  to  th« 
Li  writer,  which  was  undoubtedly  the  German. 

|.4nother  of  Stahl's  works  is  entitled  "  Opusculum 
mico-pbysico- medic um,"  published  at  Halle  in  a 


thick  quarto  volume,  in  the  year  1 715.  It  contains  A 
great  number  of  tracts,  partly  chemical  and  partly 
medical,  which  it  is  needless  to  specify.  Perhaps  th* 
IBOBt  curious  of  them  all  is  his  dissertation  to  show  tbi 
way  in  which  Moses  ground  the  golden  calf  to  powderj 
dissolved  it  in  water,  and  obliged  the  children  of  Israel 
to  drink  it.  He  shows  that  a  solution  of  hepar  snl- 
phuria  (sulpkuret  of  potassiuta),  has  the  property  of 
dissolving  gold,  and  he  draws  as  a  conclusion  from  his 
experiments  that  this  was  the  artifice  employed  by 
Mosea.  We  have  in  the  same  volume  a  pretty  detailed 
treatise  on  metallurgic  pyrotechny  and  docimasy.  Th» 
IB  the  more  curious,  because  Stahl  never  appears  to 
have  frequented  the  mines  and  smelting- ho  uses  of 
Germany.  He  must,  therefore,  have  drawn  his  in- 
formation from  books  and  from  experiment. 

Another  of  his  books  is  entitled  "  Experimenta,  Ob^ 
aervationes,  Animadversiones,  CCC.  Numero."  All- 
octavo  volume,  printed  at  Berlin  in  1731 .  Another  of 
his  books  is  entitled"  Specimen  Eeccherianum."  There 
are  also  two  chemical  books  or  Stahl,  which  I  hare 
seen  only  in  a  French  translation,  viz.,  Traiti  de 
Soyfre  and  TraitS  de  Sets.  These  are  the  only  ehe* 
mical  writings  of  Stahl  that  I  have  seen.  There  ar« 
probably  others  ;  indeed  1  have  seen  the  titles  of  se- 
veral other  chemical  works  ascribed  to  him.  But  as  it 
is  doubtful  whether  he  really  wrote  them  or  not,  I 
think  it  unnecessary  to  specify  them  here. 

Stahl's  writings  evince  the  great  progress  which 
chemistry  had  made  even  since  the  time  of  Beccher. 
But  it  is  difficult  to  say  what  particular  new  facts, 
which  appear  first  in  his  writingrs  were  discovered  by 
himself,  and  what  by  others.  I  shall  not,  therefore, 
attempt  any  enumeration  of  them,  His  reasoning  ii 
more  subtile,  and  bis  views  m\ich  more  extensive  and 
profound  than  those  of  his  predecessors.  The  great 
improvement  which  he  introduced  into  chemistry  was 
the  employment  of  phloi/Uttm,  to  explain  the  phe- 


THEORY  IN   CHEMISTRY.  257 

nomena  of  combustion  and  calcination.  This  theory 
liad  been  originally  broached  by  Beccher,  from  whom 
Stabl  evidently  borrowed  it,  but  he  improved  and  sim« 
{dified  it  so  much  that  the  whole  credit  of  it  was  given 
to  him.  It  was  called  the  Stahlian  theory,  and  raised 
him  to  the  highest  rank  among  chemists.  The  sole 
objects  of  chemists  for  thirty  or  forty  years  after  his 
time  was  to  illucidate  and  extend  his  theory.  It  applied 
ao  happily  to  all  the  known  facts,  and  was  supported 
by  experiments,  which  appeared  so  decisive  that  no- 
body thought  of  calling  it  in  question,  or  of  interro- 
gating nature  in  any  other  way  than  he  had  pointed 
out.  It  will  be  requisite,  therefore,  before  proceeding 
farther  with  this  historical  sketch,  to  lay  the  outlines 
of  the  phlogistic  theory  before  the  reader. 

It  was  conceived  by  Beccher  and  Stahl  that  all 
combustible  bodies  are  compounds.  One  of  the  con- 
stituents they  supposed  to  be  dissipated  during  the 
combustion,  while  the  other  constituent  remained  be- 
hind. Now  when  combustible  bodies  are  subjected  to 
combustion,  some  of  them  leave  an  acid  behind  them ; 
while  others  leave  a  fixed  powdery  matter,  possessing 
the  properties  of  an  earth,  and  called  usually  the 
calx  of  the  combustible  body.  The  metals  are  the 
substances  which  leave  a  calx  behind  them  when 
burnt,  and  sulphur  and  phosphorus  leave  an  acid. 
With  respect  to  those  bodies  that  would  not  burn, 
chemists  did  not  speculate  much  at  first ;  but  after- 
wards they  came  to  think  that  they  consisted  of  the 
fixed  substance  that  remained  after  combustion. 
Hence  the  conclusion  was  natural,  that  they  had 
already  undergone  combustion.  Thus  quicklime 
possessed  properties  very  similar  to  the  calces  of  metals. 
It  was  natural,  therefore,  to  consider  it  as  a  calx,  and 
to  believe  that  if  the  matter  dissipated  during  com- 
bustion could  be  again  restored,  lime  would  be  con- 
verted into  a  substance  similar  to  the  metals. 

Clombustibility  then,  according  to  this  view  of  the 

VOL.  I.  s 


258  HISTOEY  OF  CHEMISTEY, 

subject,  depends  upon  a  principle  or  material  sub- 
stance, existing  in  every  combustible  body,  and  dis- 
sipated during  the  combustion.  This  substance  waa 
considered  to  be  absolutely  the  same  in  all  combus- 
tible bodies  whatever ;  hence  the  diflFerence  between 
combustible  bodies  proceeded  from  the  other  principle 
or  number  of  principles  with  which  this  common  sub- 
stance is  combined.  In  consequence  of  this  identity 
Stahl  invented  the  term  phlogiston,  by  which  he  de- 
noted this  common  principle  of  combustible  bodies. 
Inflammation,  with  the  several  phenomena  that  attend 
it,  depended  on  the  gradual  separation  of  this  prin- 
ciple, which  being  once  separated,  what  remained  of 
the  body  could  no  longer  be  an  inflammable  substance, 
but  must  be  similar  to  the  other  kinds  of  matter.  It 
was  this  opinion  that  combustibility  is  owing  to  the 
presence  of  phlogiston,  and  inflammation  to  its  escape, 
that  constituted  the  peculiar  theory  of  Beccher,  and 
which  was  afterwards  illustrated  by  Stahl  with  so  much 
clearness,  and  experiments  to  prove  its  truth  were  ad- 
vanced by  him  of  so  much  force,  that  it  came  to  be 
distinguished  by  the  name  of  the  Stahlian  theory. 

The  identity  of  phlogiston  in  all  combustible  bodies 
was  founded  upon  observations  and  experiments  of  so 
decisive  a  nature,  that  after  the  existence  of  the  prin- 
ciple itself  was  admitted,  they  could  not  fail  to  be 
satisfactory.  When  phosphorus  is  made  to  burn  it  gives 
out  a  strong  flame,  much  heat  is  evolved,  and  the  phos- 
phorus is  dissipated  in  a  white  smoke :  but  if  the  com- 
bustion be  conducted  within  a  glass  vessel  of  a  proper 
shape,  this  white  smoke  will  be  deposited  on  the  inside 
of  the  glass;  it  quickly  absorbs  moisture  from  the  atmo- 
sphere, and  runs  into  an  acid  liquid,  known  by  the  name 
of  phosphoric  acid.  If  this  liquid  be  put  into  a  platinum 
crucible,  and  gradually  heated  to  redness,  me  water 
is  dissipated,  and  a  substance  remains  which,  on  cool- 
ing, congeals  into  a  transparent  colourless  body  like 
glass :  this  is  dry  phosphoric  acid.     If  now  we  mix 


phpsphprip  acid  with  a  quantity  of  ch^coal  powder, 
apd  fie^t  it  BufiBctiently  in  a  glass  retort,  taking  care  to 
exclude  the  external  air,  a  portion  or  the  whole  of  the 
ch^rcQ^  ydll  disappear,  and  phosphorus  will  be  form- 
ed pp^s^ssed  of  the  same  properties  that  it  h^d  before 
it  yras  subjected  to  combustion.  The  conclusion  de^* 
duced  ffQii^  this  piocess  appeared  irresistible;  the 
charcoal,  or  a  portion  of  it,  had  combined  with  the 
phQ^phoric  acid,  and  both  together  h^d  constituted 
phosphonm. 

Now,  in  changing  phosphoric  acid  into  phosphorus, 
we  may  employ  almost  any  kind  of  combustible  sub? 
stanqe  that  we  please,  provided  it  be  capable  of  bear- 
ing tl>e  requisite  heat ;  they  will  all  equally  answer, 
and  will  all  convert  the  acid  into  phosphorus.  Instead 
of  charcoal  we  may  take  lamp-black,  or  sugar,  or  r^sin, 
or  even  several  of  the  metals.  Hence  it  was  con^* 
4;luded  that  all  of  these  bodies  contain  a  common  prin-p 
ciple  which  they  communicate  to  the  phosphoric  acid  ; 
and  since  the  new  body  formed  is  in  all  cases  identical, 
the  principle  communicated  must  also  be  identical. 
Hence  combustible  bodies  contain  an  identical  prin- 
ciple, and  this  principle  is  phlogiston. 

Sulphur  by  burning  is  converted  into  sulphuric  acid ; 
and  if  sulphuric  acid  be  heated  with  charcoal,  or  phos- 
phorus, or  even  sulphur,  it  is  again  converted  into 
sulphur.  Several  of  the  metals  produce  the  same 
effect.  The  reasoning  here  was  the  same  as  with 
regard  to  phosphoric  acid,  and  the  conclusion  was 
similar. 

When  lead  is  kept  nearly  at  a  red  heat  in  the  open 
air  for  some  time,  being  constantly  stirred  to  expose 
new  surfaces  to  the  air,  it  is  converted  into  the  beau- 
tiful pigment  called  red  lead ;  this  is  a  calx  of  lead. 
To  restore  this  calx  again  to  the  state  of  metallic  lead, 
we  have  only  to  heat  it  in  contact  with  almost  any  com- 
bustible matter  whatever.  Pit-coal,  peat,  charcoal, 
isugar,  flour,  iron,  zinc,  &c.,  all  these  bodies  then  mu$t 

s2 


260  HISTORY  OF   CHEMISTRT. 

contain  one  common  principle,  which  they  communis 
cate  to  red  lead,  and  by  so  doing  convert  it  into  lead. 
This  common  principle  is  phlogiston. 

These  examples  are  sufficient  to  show  the  reader  the 
way  in  which  Stahl  proved  the  identity  of  phlogiston 
in  all  combustible  bodies.  And  the  demonstration 
was  considered  as  so  complete  that  the  opinion  was 
adopted  by  every  chemist  without  exception. 

When  we  inquire  further,  and  endeavour  to  learn, 
what  qualities  phlogiston  was  supposed  to  have  in  its 
separate  state,  we  find  this  part  of  the  subject  very 
unsatisfactory,  and  the  opinions  very  unsettled.  Bec- 
cher  and  Stahl  represented  phlogiston  as  a  dry  sub- 
stance, or  of  an  earthy  nature,  the  particles  of  which 
are  exquisitely  subtile,  and  very  much  disposed  to  be 
agitated  and  set  in  motion  with  inconceivable  velocity. 
This  was  called  by  Stahl  motus  verticillaris.  Whea 
the  particles  of  any  body  are  agitated  with  this  kind  of 
motion,  the  body  exhibits  the  phenomena  of  heat 
or  ignition,  or  inflammation,  according  to  the  violence 
and  rapidity  of  the  motion. 

This  very  crude  opinion  of  the  earthy  nature  of 
phlogiston,  appears  to  have  been  deduced  from  the 
insolubility  of  most  combustible  substances  in  water, 
if  we  except  alcohol,  and  ether,  and  gums,  very  few 
of  them  are  capable  of  being  dissolved  in  that  liquid* 
Thus  the  metals,  sulphur,  phosphorus,  oils,  resins,  bi- 
tumens, charcoal,  &c.,  are  well  known  to  be  insoluble. 
Now,  at  the  time  that  Beccher  and  Stahl  lived,  inso- 
lubility in  water  was  considered  as  a  character  pecu- 
liar to  earthy  bodies ;  and  as  those  bodies  which  con- 
tain a  great  deal  of  phlogiston  are  insoluble  in  water, 
though  the  other  constituents  be  very  soluble  in  that 
liquid,  it  was  natural  enough  to  conclude  that  phlo-r 
giston  itself  was  of  an  earthy  nature. 

But  though  the  opinions  of  chemists  about  the  na- 
ture and  properties  of*  phlogiston  in  a  separate  stat^ 
were  unsettled^  no  doubts  were  entertained  respecting 


THBORT  IN  Chemistry.  261 

its  existence,  and  respecting  its  identity  in  all  com- 
bustible bodies.  Its  presence  or  its  absence  produced 
almost  all  the  changes  which  bodies  undergo.  Hence 
chemistry  and  combustion  came  to  be  in  some  measure 
identified,  and  a  theory  of  combustion  was  considered 
Sis  the  same  thing  with  a  theory  of  chemistry. 

Metals  were  compounds  of  calces  and  phlogiston. 
The  different  species  of  metals  depend  upon  the  dif- 
ferent species  of  calx  which  each  contains ;  for  there 
are  as  many  calces  (each  simple  and  peculiar)  as  there 
are  metals.  These  calces  are  capable  of  uniting  with 
phlogiston  in  indefinite  proportions.  The  calx  united 
to  a  little  phlogiston  still  retains  its  earthy  appearance 
'- — a  certain  additional  portion  restores  the  calx  to  the 
state  of  a  metal.  An  enormous  quantity  of  phlogiston 
with  which  some  calces,  as  calx  of  manganese,  are 
capable  of  combining,  destroys  the  metallic  appear- 
ance of  the  body,  and  renders  it  incapable  of  dissolv- 
ing in  acids. 

The  affinity  between  a  metallic  calx  and  phlogiston 
is  strong ;  but  the  facility  of  union  is  greatly  promoted 
when  the  calx  still  retains  a  little  phlogiston.  If  we 
drive  off  the  whole  phlogiston  we  can  scarcely  unite 
the  calx  with  phlogiston  again,  or  bring  it  back  to  the 
state  of  a  metal :  hence  the  extreme  difficulty  of  re- 
ducing the  calx  of  zinc,  and  even  the  red  calx  of  iron. 

The  various  colours  of  bodies  are  owing  to  phlogis- 
ton, and  these  colours  vary  with  every  alteration  in  the 
proportion  of  phlogiston  present. 

It  was  observed  very  early  that  when  a  metal  was 
converted  into  a  calx  its  weight  was  increased.  But 
this,  though  known  to  Beccher  and  Stahl,  does  not 
seem  to  have  had  any  effect  on  their  opinions.  Boyle, 
who  does  not  seem  to  have  been  aware  of  the  phlogis- 
tic theory,  though  it  had  been  broached  before  his 
death,  relates  an  experiment  on  tin  which  he  made. 
He  put  a  given  weight  of  it  into  an  open  glass  vessel, 
and  kept  it  melted  on  the  fire  till  a  certain  ^rtio\x  ^ 


262  ItlSTORY  OP  CHEMistRY. 

ft  was  converted  into  a  calx :  it  Was  now  found  to 
have  increased  considerably  in  Weight.  This  experi- 
ment he  relates  in  order  to  prove  the  materiality  of 
heat :  in  his  opinion  a  certain  quantity  of  heat  had 
upited  to  the  tin  and  occasioned  the  increase  of  weight. 
This  opinion  of  Boyle  was  incompatible  with  the  Stah- 
lian  theory:  for  the  tin  had  not  only  increased  in 
weight,  but  had  been  converted  into  a  calx.  It  was 
therefore  the  opinion  of  Boyle  that  calx  of  tin  was  a 
combination  of  tin  and  heat.  It  could  not  consequently 
be  true  that  calx  of  tin  was  tin  deprived  of  phlogiston. 

When  this  difficulty  struck  the  phlogistians,  which 
was  not  till  long  after  the  time  of  Stahl,  they  endea- 
voured to  evade  it  by  assigning  new  properties  to 
phlogiston.  According  to  them  it  is  not  only  desti- 
tute of  weight,  but  endowed  with  a  principle  of  levity. 
In  consequence  of  this  property,  a  body  containing 
phlogiston  is  always  lighter  than  it  would  otherwise  be^ 
and  it  becomes  heavier  when  the  phlogiston  makes  its 
escape  :  hence  the  reason  why  calx  of  tin  is  heavier 
than  the  same  tin  in  the  metallic  state.  The  increase 
of  weight  is  not  owing,  as  Boyle  believed,  to  the 
fixation  of  heat  in  the  tin,  but  to  the  escape  of  phlo- 
giston from  it. 

Those  philosophic  chemists,  who  thus  refined  upon 
the  properties  of  phlogiston,  did  not  perceive  that  by 
endowing  it  with  a  principle  of  levity,  they  destroyed 
all  the  other  characters  which  they  had  assigned  to  it. 
What  is  gravity  ?  Is  it  not  an  attraction  by  means  of 
which  bodies  are  drawn  towards  each  other,  and  remain 
united  ?  And  is  there  any  reason  for  supposing  that 
chemical  attraction  differs  m  its  nature  from  the  other 
kinds  of  attraction  which  matter  possesses?  If,  then, 
phlogiston  be  destitute  of  gravity,  it  cannot  pbssesii 
Any  attraction  fot  other  bodies ;  if  it  be  endowed  with 
a  principle  of  levity,  it  must  have  the  property  ot 
repelling  other  bodies,  for  that  is  the  only  meaning 
that  can  be  attached  tb  the  Ifeim-    But  if  phlo^^tdii 


has  the  property  of  repelling  all  other  substances,  how 
comes  it  to  be  fixed  in  combustible  bodies  ?  It  must 
be  united  to  the  calces  or  the  acids,  which  constitute 
the  other  principle  of  these  bodies ;  and  it  could  not 
be  united,  and  remain  united,  unless  a  principle  of 
attraction  existed  between  it  and  these  bases ;  that  i3 
to  say,  unless  it  possessed  a  principle  the  very  oppo- 
site of  levity. 

Thus  the  fact,  that  calces  are  heavier  than  the  metals 
from  which  they  are  formed,  in  reality  overturned  the 
whole  doctrine  of  phlogiston;  and  the  only  reason 
why  the  doctrine  continued  to  be  admitted  after  the 
fact  was  known  is,  that  in  these  early  days  of  che- 
mistry, the  balance  was  scarcely  ever  employed  in 
experimenting  :  hence  alterations  in  weight  were  little 
attended  to  or  entirely  overlooked.  We  shall  see 
afterwards,  that  when  Lavoisier  introduced  a  more 
accurate  mode  of  experimenting,  and  rendered  it  ne- 
cessary to  compare  the  original  weights  of  the  sub- 
stances employed,  with  the  weights  of  the  products, 
he  made  use  of  tliis  very  experiment  of  Boyle,  and  a 
similar  one  made  with  mercury,  to  overturn  the  whole 
doctrine  of  phlogiston. 

The  phlogistic  School  being  thus  founded  by  Stahl, 
in  Berlin,  a  race  of  chemists  succeeded  him  in  that 
Capital,  who  contributed  in  no  ordinary  degree  to  the 
improvement  of  the  science.  The  most  deservedly 
celebrated  of  these  were  Neumann,  Pott,  Margraaf,  and 
Eller. 

Caspar  Neumann  was  born  at  Zullichau,  in  Ger- 
many, in  1682.  He  was  early  received  into  favour  by 
the  King  of  Pinissia,  and  travelled  at  the  expense  of 
that  monarch  into  Holland,  England,  France,  and 
Italy.  During  these  travels  he  had  an  opportunity  of 
making  a  personal  acquaintance  with  the  most  emihent 
men  of  science  in  all  the  different  countries  which  he 
visited.  On  his  return  home,  in  1724,  he  was  appointed 
pro{le^K>r  of  chemistry  in  the  Royal  College  Oi  P^^c. 


264  HISTORY  OF  CHBMI8TRT. 

and  Surgery  at  Berlin,  where  he  delivered  a  course  of 
lectures  annually.  During  the  remainder  of  his  life 
he  enjoyed  the  situation  of  superintendent  of  the  Royal 
Laboratory,  and  apothecary  to  the  King  of  Prussia. 
He  died  in  1737.  He  was  a  Fellow  of  the  Royal 
Society,  and  several  papers  of  his  appeared  in  the 
Transactions  of  that  learned  body.  The  following  is 
a  list  of  these  papers,  all  of  which  were  written  in 
Latin : 

1 .  Disquisitio  de  camphora. 

2.  De  experimento  probandi  spiritum  vini  Gallici, 
per  quam  usitato,  sed  revera  falso  et  fallaci. 

Some  merchants  in  Holland,  England,  Hamburg, . 
and  Dantzic,  were  in  possession  of  what  they  con- 
sidered an  infallible  test  to  distinguish  French  brandy 
from  every  other  kind  of  spirit.     It  was  a  dusky  yel- 
lowish liquid.     When  one  or  two  drops  of  it  were  let 
fall  into  a  glass  of  French  brandy,  a  beautiful  blue 
colour  appeared  at  the  bottom  of  the  glass,  and  when 
the  brandy  is  stirred,  the  whole  liquid  becomes  azure. 
But  if  the  spirit  tried  be  malt  spirit,  no  such  colour 
appears  in  the  glass.     Neumann  ascertained  that  the 
test  liquid  was  merely  a  solution  of  sulphate  of  iron 
n  water,  and  that  the  blue  colour  was  the  consequence 
of  the  brandy  having  been  kept  in  oak  casks,  and  that  - 
having  dissolved  a  portion  of  tannin.     Every  spirit"^ 
will  exhibit  the  same  colour,  if  it  has  been  kept  in  oak  '• 
casks. 

3.  De  salibus  alkalino-fixis. 

4.  De  camphora  thymi. 

5.  De  ambragrysea. 

His  other  papers,  published  in  Germany,  are  the  foU  » 
lowing : 

In  the  Ephemerides.  '•' 

1 .  De  oleo  distillato  formicorum  sethereo. 

2.  De  albumine  ovi  succino  simili.  • 

In  the  Miscellania  Berolinensia.  i^ 

1.  Meditationes  in  binas  observationes  de  aqua  per^^ 


mSOEY  IN  CHEMISTKT.  265 

putrtfactionem  rubra,  vulgo  pro  tali  in  sanguinem 
Tetfsahabita. 

2.  Succincta  relatio  exactis  Pomeraniis  de  prodigio 
sanguinis  in  palude  viso. 

d    De  prodigio  sanguinis  ex  Pomeranio  nunciato. 

4.  Disquisitio  de  camphora. 

5.  De  experimento  probandi  spiritum  vini  Gallicum. 

6.  De  spiritu  urinoso  caustico. 

7.  Demonstratio  syrupum  violarum  ad  probanda 
liquida  non  sufficere. 

8.  Examen  correctionis  olei  raparum. 

9.  De  yi  caustica  et  conversione  salium  alkalino* 
fixorum  aeri  expositor um  in  salia  neutra. 

He  published  separately, 

1.  De  salibus  alkalino-fixis  et  camphora. 

2.  De  succino,  opio,  caryophyllis  aromaticis  et 
castoreo. 

3.  On  saltpetre,  sulphur,  antimony,  and  iron. 

4.  On  tea,  coffee,  beer,  and  wine. 
6.  Disquisitio  de  ambragrysea.  i 

6.  On  common  salt,  tartar,  sal  ammoniac  and  ants. 

After  Neumann's  death,  two  copies  of  his  chemical 
lectures  were  published.  The  first  consisting  of  notes 
taken  by  one  of  his  pupils,  intermixed  with  incoherent 
compilations  from  other  authors,  was  printed  at  Berlin 
in  1740.  The  other  was  printed  by  the  booksellers  of 
the  Orphan  Hospital  of  Zullichau  (the  place  of  Neu- 
mann's birth),  and  is  said  to  have  been  taken  from  the 
original  papers  in  the  author's  handwriting.  Of  this 
last  an  excellent  translation,  with  many  additions  and 
corrections,  was  published  by  Dr.  Lewis,  in  London, 
in  the  year  1759;  it  was  entitled,  "  The  Chemical 
Works  of  Caspar  Neumann,  M.  D.,  Professor  of  Che- 
mistry at  Berlin,  F.  R.  S.,  &c.  Abridged  and  me- 
thodized ;  •  with  large  additions,  containing  the  later 
discoveries  and  improvements  made  in  Chemistry,  and 
the  arts  depending  thereon.  By  William  Lewis,  M.B./ 


266  tirl&TOftY  Of  tnziastTBLit. 

P.R.S.  London,  1759.'*  This  is' an  excellent  book, 
and  contains  many  things  that  still  retain  their  Value, 
notwithstanding  the  improvements  which  have  been 
made  since  in  every  department  of  chemistry. 

I  have  reason  to  believe  that  the  laborious  part  of 
this  translation  and  compilation  was  made  by   Mr. 
Chicholm,  whom  Dr.  Lewis  employed  as  his  assistant. 
Mr.  Chicholm,  when  a  young  man,  went  to  London 
from  Aberdeen,  where  he  had  studied  at  the  univer- 
sity, and  acquired  a  competent  knowledge  of  Greek 
and  Latin,  but  no  means  of  supporting  himself.     On 
his  arrival  in  London,  one  of  the  first  things  that  struck 
his  attention  was  a  Greek  book,  placed  open  against 
the  pane  of  a  bookseller's  window.   Chicholm  went  up 
to  the  window,  at  which  he  continued  standing  till  he 
had  perused  the  whole  Greek  page  thus  exposed  to 
his  view.     Dr.  Lewis  happened  to  be  in  the  shop :  he 
had  been  looking  out  for  a  young  man  whom  he  could 
employ  to  take  charge  of  his  laboratory,  and  manage 
his  processes,  and  who  should  possess  sufficient  intel- 
ligence to  read  chemical  works  for  him,  and  collect 
out  of  each  whatever  deserved  to  be  known,  either 
from  its  novelty  or  ingenuity.     The  appearance  and  * 
manners  of  Chicholm  struck  him,  and  made  him  think 
of  him  as  a  man  likely  to  answer  the  purposes  whidi 
he  had  in  view.     He  called  him  into  the  shop,  and 
after  some  conversation  with  him,  took  him  home, 
and  kept  him  all  his  life  as  his  assistant  and  operatof. 
Chicholm  was  a  laborious  and  painstaking  man,  and 
by  continually  working  in  Lewis's  laboratory,  soon 
acquired  a  competent  knowledge  of  chemistry.     Se 
compiled  several  manuscript  volumes,  partly  consisting 
of  his  own  experiments,  and  partly  of  collections  from 
other  authors.     At  Dr.  Lewis's  death,  all  his  booki 
were  sold  by  auction,  and  these  manuscript  volumtli 
among  the  rest.  They  were  purchased  by  Mr.  Wedtfji* 
wood,  senior,  who  at  the  same  time  took  Mr.  Chichdtti 
into  his  service,  ahd  gave  him  the  charge  of  his  oifii 


♦kfibW  lit  cterfhtRY.  267 

\ikhbt2it6rf.  It  was  Mr.  Chicliolm  that  WaiS  the  con- 
structor of  the  well-known  piece  of  apparatus  known 
by  the  name  of  Wedgewood's  pyrometer.  After  his 
death  the  instrument  continued  still  to  be  constructed 
for  some  titne ;  but  so  many  complaints  were  made  of 
the  unequal  contraction  of  the  pieces,  that  Mr.  Wedge- 
wood,  junior,  who  had  succeeded  to  the  pottery  in  con- 
sequence of  the  death  of  his  father,  put  an  end  to  the 
ihanufacture  of  them  altogether. 

John  Henry  Pott  was  bom  at  Halberstadt,  in  the 
year  1692.  He  was  a  scholar  of  Hoffmann  and  Stahl, 
and  from  this  last  he  seems  to  have  imbibed  his  taste 
for  chemistry.  He  settled  at  Berlin,  where  he  became 
assessor  of  the  Royal  College  of  Medicine  and  Surgery, 
inspector  of  medicines,  superintendent  of  the  Royal 
Laboratory,  and  dean  of  the  Academy  of  Sciences  of 
Berlin.  He  was  chosen  professor  of  theoretical  che- 
mistry at  Berlin ;  and  on  the  death  of  Neumann,  in 
1737,  he  succeeded  him  as  professor  of  practical  che- 
taistry.  He  was  beyond  question  the  most  learned 
arid  laborious  chemist  of  his  day.  His  erudition,  in- 
deed, was  very  great ;  and  his  historical  introductions 
to  his  dissertation  displays  the  extent  of  his  reading 
on  every  subject  of  which  he  had  occasion  to  treat. 
It  has  often  struck  me  that  the  historical  introductions 
which  Bergmann  has  prefixed  to  his  papers,  are  several 
of  them  borrowed  from  Pott.  The  Lithogeognosia  of 
Pott  is  one  of  the  most  extraordinary  productions  of 
the  age  in  which  he  lived.  It  was  the  result  of  a  re- 
quest of  the  King  of  Prussia,  to  discover  the  ingredients 
of  which  Saxon  porcelain  was  made.  Mr.  Pott,  not 
being  able  to  procure  any  satisfactory  information  re- 
lative to  the  nature  of  the  substances  employed  at 
Dresden,  resolved  to  undertake  a  chemical  examina- 
tion of  all  the  substances  that  were  likely  to  be  em- 
ployed in  such  a  manufactui^.  He  tried  the  effect  6f 
fir6  Upon  all  th6  stbhes,  (garths,  and  mln^fitls,  that  h^ 
could  procure,  both  separately  and  mixed  together  itt 


268  HI8T0Rir  OF  CHEMISTRY. 

various  proportions.  He  made  at  least  thirty  thousand 
experiments  in  six  years,  and  laid  the  foundation  for  a 
chemical  knowledge  of  these  bodies.*  It  is  to  this  work 
of  Pott  that  we  are  indebted  for  our  knowledge  of  the 
effects  of  heat  upon  various  earthy  bodies,  and  upon 
mixtures  of  them.  Thus  he  foimd  that  pure  white 
clay,  or  mixtures  of  pure  clay  and  quartz-sand,  would 
not  fuse  at  any  temperature  which  he  could  produce ; 
but  clay,  mixed  with  lime  or  with  oxide  of  iron,  enters 
speedily  into  fusion.  Clay  also  fuses  with  its  own  weight 
of  borax ;  it  forms  a  compact  mass  with  half  its  weight, 
and  does  not  concrete  into  a  hard  body  when  mixed  with 
a  third  of  its  weight  of  that  salt.  Clay  fuses  easily 
with  fluor  spar  ;  it  fuses,  also,  with  twice  its  weight  of 
protoxide  of  lead,  and  with  its  own  weight  of  sulphate  of 
lime,  but  with  no  other  proportion  tried.  It  was  a  know- 
ledge of  these  mutual  actions  of  bodies  on  each  other, 
when  exposed  to  heat,  that  gradually  led  to  the  me- 
thods of  examining  minerals  by  the  blowpipe.  These 
methods  were  brought  to  the  present  state  of  perfection 
by  Assessor  Gahn,  of  Fahluji,  the  [result  of  whose  la- 
bours has  been  published  by  Berzelius,  in  his  treatise 
on  the  blowpipe.  Pott  died  in  1777,  in  the  eighty- 
fifth  year  of  his  age. 

His  different  chemical  works  (his  Lithogeognosia  ex- 
cepted) were  collected  and  translated  into  French  by 
M.  Demachy,  in  the  year  1759,  and  published  in  four 
small  octavo  volumes.  The  chemical  papers  contained 
in  these  volumes  are  thirty-two  in  number.  Some  of 
these  papers  cannot  but  appear  somewhat  extraordinary 
to  a  moaern  chemist :  for  example,  M.  Duhamel  had 

*  There  is  a  French  translation  of  this  work,  entitled  "  Lithe** 
ognosie,  ou  Examen  Chymique  des  Pierres  et  des  Terres  ea 
g^n^ral,  et  du  Talc  de  la  Topaz,  et  de  la  Steatite  en  particulier  ; 
Bvec  une  Dissertation  sur  le  Feu  et  sur  la  Lumiere."  Paris,  17&9w 
With  a  continuation,  constituting  a  second  volume,  in  whichltt- 
the  experiments  in  the  first  volume  are  exhibited  in  the  form  ^ 
Ubles. 


THEO&Y  IK   CBEMISTRT.  269 

published  in  the  memoirs  of  the  French  Academy,  in 
the  year  1737,  a  set  of  experiments  on  common  salt, 
firom  which  he  deduced  that  its  basis  was  a  fixed  al« 
kali,  which  possessed  properties  different  from  those 
of  potash,  and  which  of  course  required  to  be  distin- 
guished by  a  peculiar  name.  It  is  sufficiently  known 
Sbat  the  term  soda  was  afterwards  applied  to  this  al- 
kali ;  by  which  name  it  is  known  at  present.  Pott, 
in  a  yery  elaborate  and  Iqng  dissertation  on  the  base 
of  common  salt,  endeavours  to  refute  these  opinions 
of  Duhamel.  The  subject  was  afterwards  taken  up 
by  Margraafy  who  demonstrated,  by  decisive  expen- 
ments,  that  the  base  of  common  salt  is  soda  ;  and  that 
soda  differs  essentially  in  its  properties  from  potash. 

Pott's  dissertation  on  bismuth  is  of  considerable 
value.  He  collects  in  it  the  statements  and  opinions 
of  all  preceding  writers  on  this  metal,  and  describes 
its  properties  with  considerable  accuracy  and  minute- 
ness. The  same  observations  apply  to  his  dissertation 
on  zinc. 

John  Theodore  Eller,  of  Brockuser,  was  born  on 
the  29th  of  November,  1689,  at  Pletzkau,  in  the  prin- 
cipality of  Anhalt  Bernburg.  He  was  the  fourth 
son  of  Jobst  Hermann  Eller,  a  man  of  a  respectable 
family,  whose  ancestors  were  proprietors  of  consider- 
able estates  in  Westphalia  and  the  Netherlands. 
Young  Eller  received  the  rudiments  of  his  education 
m  his  father's  house,  from  which  he  went  to  the  Uni- 
versity of  Quedlinburg ;  and  from  thence  to  the 
University  of  Jena,  in  1709.  He  was  sent  thitherto 
study  law  ;  but  his  passion  was  for  natural  philosophy, 
which  led  him  to  devote  himself  to  the  study  of  medi- 
cine. From  Jena  he  went  to  Halle,  and  finally  to 
Ley  den,  attracted  by  the  reputation  of  the  older  Al- 
binus,  of  Professor  Sengerd  and  the  celebrated  Boer- 
haave,  at  th^t  time  in  the  height  of  his  reputation. 
The  only  practical  anatomist  then  in  Leyden,  was 
M.  Bidloo,  an  old  man  of  eighty,  and  of  course 


270  HISTOI^Y  OF  CQEMISTRTt 

unfit  for  te^hing.  This  induced  Eller  to  repair  to 
Amsterdam,  to  study  under  Rau,  and  to  inspect  th^ 
anatomical  museum  of  Ruysch.  Bidloo  soon  dying, 
Rau  was  appointed  his  successor  at  Leyden,  whitheir 
Eiier  followed  him,  and  dissected  under  him  till  the 
year  1716.  After  taking  his  degree  at  Leyd^n,  Eller 
returned  to  Germany,  and  devoted  a  considerably 
timQ  to  the  study  and  examination  of  the  mines  of 
8axony  and  the  Hartz,  and  of  the  metalluigic  pro-r 
cesses  connected  with  these  mines.  From  these  inin^ 
he  repaired  to  France,  and  resumed  his  anatomical 
studies  under  Du  Vemey  and  Winslow.  Chemistry 
also  attracted  a  good  deal  of  his  attention,  s^nd  he  fre- 
quented the  laboratories  of  Grosse,  Lemery,  Boldue, 
and  Homberg,  at  that  time  the  most  eminent  chexQists 
in  Paris. 

From  Paris  he  repaired  to  London,  where  he  formed 
an  acquaintance  with  the  numerous  medical  men  qf 
eminence  who  at  that  time  adorned  this  capital.  On 
returning  to  Germany  in  1721,  he  was  appointed  phy- 
sician to  Prince  Victor  Frederick  of  Anhalt  Bernburg. 
From  Bernburg  he  went  to  Magdeburg;  and  th^ 
King  of  Prussia  called  him  to  Berlin  in  1724,  to  teacji 
anatomy  in  the  great  anatomic  theatre  which  had  been 
just  erected.  Soon  after  he  was  appointed  physician 
to  the  king,  a  counsellor  and  professor  in  the  Roya| 
Medico-Chirurgical  College,  which  had  been  just 
founded  in  Berlin.  He  was  also  appointed  deani  of 
the  Superior  College  of  Medicine,  and  physician  to 
the  army  and  to  the  great  Hospital  of  Frederick.  la 
the  year  1755  Frederick  the  Great  made  him  a  privy- 
counsellor,  which  is  the  highest  rank  that  a  medicaj 
man  can  attain  in  Prussia.  The  same  year  he  wag 
made  director  of  the  Royal  Academy  of  Sciences  of 
Berlin.  He  died  in  the  year  1760,  in  the  seventy-firet 
year  of  his  age.  He  was  twice  mamed,  and  his  secon4 
wife  survived  him. 

Many  chemical  peters  of  ^ler  are  to  be  fpufid  ip 


THEORY  IN   CHEMISTRY.  271 

the  memoirs  of  the  Berlin  Academy.  They  were  of 
sufficient  importance,  at  the  time  when  he  published 
them,  to  add  considerably  to  his  reputation,  though 
not  sufficiently  so  to  induce  me  to  give  a  catalogue  of 
tliem  here.  I  am  not  aware  of  any  chemical  discovery 
fir  which  we  are  indebted  to  him ;  but  have  been  in- 
duced to  give  this  brief  notice  of  him,  because  he  is 
Qiually  associated  with  Pott  and  Margpraaf,  making 
irith  them  the  three  celebrated  chemists  who  adorned 
Berlin,  during  the  splendid  reign  of  Frederick  the 
Oreat. 

Andrew  Sigismund  Margraaf  was  bom  in  Berlin, 
in  the  year  1709,  and  acquired  the  first  principles 
of  chemistry  from  his  father,  who  was  an  apothecary 
in  that  city.  He  afterwards  studied  under  Iveumann, 
and  travelling  in  quest  of  information  to  Frankfort, 
Strasburg,  Halle,  and  Freyburg,  he  returned  to  Ber- 
lin enriched  with  all  the  knowledge  of  his  favourite 
fknence  which  at  that  time  existed.  In  1760,  on  the 
death  of  Eller,  he  was  made  director  of  the  physical 
class  of  the  Berlin  Academy  of  Sciences.  He  died 
in  the  year  1782,  in  the  seventy-third  year  of  his 
age.  He  gradually  acquired  a  brilliant  reputation 
in  consequence  of  the  numerous  chemical  papers 
which  he  successively  published,  each  of  which  usually 
contained  a  new  chemical  fact,  of  more  or  less  im- 
portance, deduced  from  a  set  of  experiments  generally 
satisfactory  and  convincing.  His  papers  have  a  greater 
resemblance  to  those  of  Scheele  than  of  any  other 
chemist  to  whom  we  can  compare  them.  He  may 
be  considered  as  in  some  measure  the  beginner  of 
chemical  analysis ;  for,  before  his  time,  the  chemical 
analysis  of  bodies  had  hardly  been  attempted.  His 
methods,  as  might  have  been  expected,  were  not  very 
perfect;  nor  did  he  attempt  numerical  results.  His 
experiments  on  phosphorus  and  on  the  method  of 
extracting  it  from  urine  are  valuable;  they  com- 
municated the  first  accurate  notions  relative  to  thiy 


272  HISTOEY  OF   CHEMISTRY. 

substance  and  to  phosphoric  acid.     He  first  deter* 
mined  the  properties  of  the  earth  of  alum,  now  known 
by  the  name  of  alumina ;  showed  that  it  differed  from 
every  other,  and  that  it  existed  in  clay,  and  gave 
to  diat  substance  its  peculiar  properties.     He  de- 
monstrated the  peculiar  nature  of  soda,  the  base  of 
common  salt,  which  Pott  had  called  in  question,  and 
thus  verified  the  conclusions  of  Duhamel.     He  gives 
an  easy  process  for  obtaining  pure  silver  from  the 
chloride  of  that  metal :    his  method  is  to  dissolve 
the  pure  chloride  of  silver  in  a  solution  of  caustic 
ammonia,   and    to   put    into  the  liquid  a  sufficient 
quantity  of  pure  mercury;  the  silver  is  speedily  reduced 
and    converted   into   an   amalgam,    and  when    this 
amalgam  is  exposed  to  a  red  heat  the  mercury  is 
driven  off  and  pure  silver  remains.    The  usual  method 
of  reducing  the  chloride  of  silver  is  to  heat  it  in  a 
crucible  with  a  sufficient  quantity  of  carbonate  of 
potash,  a  process  which  was  first  recommended  by 
Kunkel.     But  it  is  scarcely  possible  to  prevent  the 
loss  of  a  portion  of  the  silver  when  the  chloride  is 
reduced   in  this  way.     The  modem  process  is  un- 
doubtedly the  simplest  and  the  best,  to  reducie  it 
by  means  of  hydrogen.     If  a  few  pieces  of  zinc  be 
put  into  the  bottom  of  a  beer-glass  and  some  dilute 
sulphuric   acid  be  poured   over  it  an  effervescence 
takes  place,  and  hydrogen  gas  is  disengaged.     Chlo- 
ride of  silver,   placed   above  the  zinc  in  the  same 
glass,  is  speedily  reduced  by  this  hydrogen  and  con- 
verted into  metallic  silver. 

Margraaf's  chemical  papers,  down  to  the  time  of 
publication,  were  collected  together,  translated  into 
French  and  published  at  Paris  in  the  year  1762^ 
in  two  very  small  octavo  volumes,  they  consist  of 
twenty-six  different  papers :  some  of  the  most  curious 
and  important  of  which  are  those  that  have  been 
just  particularized.  Several  other  papers  written  bf 
him  appeared  in  the  memoirs  of  the  Berlin  Academy^ 


THEORY   IN   CHEMISTRY.  2273 

after  this  collection  of  his  works  was  published,  par- 
ticularly **  A  demonstration  of  the  possibility  of  draw- 
ing fix^  alkaline  salts  from  tartar  by  means  of  acids, 
without  employing  the  action  of  a  violent  fire."  It 
was  this  paper,  probably,  that  led  Scheele,  a  few 
years  after,  to  his  well-known  method  of  obtaining 
tartaric  acid,  a  modification  of  which  is  still  followed 
by.  manufacturers. 

"  Observations  concerning  a  remarkable  volatiliza- 
tion of  a  portion  of  a  kind  of  stone  known  by  the 
names  of  flosse,  fiusse,  fiuor  spar,  and  likewise  by  that 
of  hesperos:  which  volatilization  was  efiectuated  by 
means  of  acids."  Pott  had  already  shown  the  value 
of  fluor  spar  as  a  flux.  Three  years  after  the  appear- 
ance of  Margraaf's  paper,  Scheele  discovered  the 
nature  of  fluor  spar,  and  first  drew  the  attention  of 
chemists  to  the  peculiar  properties  of  fluoric  acid. 

In  France,  in  consequence  chiefly  of  the  regu- 
lations established  in  the  Academy  of  Sciences,  in  the 
year  1699,  a  race  of  chemists  always  existed,  whose 
specific  object  was  to  cultivate  chemistry,  and  extend 
and  improve  it.  The  most  eminent  of  these  chemical 
labourers,  after  the  Stahlian  theory  was  fully  ad- 
mitted in  France  till  its  credit  began  to  be  shaken, 
were  Reaumur,  Hellot,  Duhamel,  Rouelle,  and  Mac- 
quer.  Besides  these,  who  were  the  chief  chemists 
in  the  academy,  there  were  a  few  others  to  whom 
we  are  indebted  for  chemical  discoveries  that  deserve 
to  be  recorded. 

Rene  Antoine  Ferchault,  Esq.,  Seigneur  de  Reau- 
mur, certainly  one  of  the  most  extraordinary  men 
of  his  age,  was  born  at  Rochelle,  in  1683.  He  went 
to  the  school  of  Rochelle,  and  afterwards  studied 
philosophy  under  the  Jesuits  at  Poitiers.  Hence  he 
went  to  Bourges,  to  which  one  of  his  uncles,  canon 
of  the  holy  chapel  in  that  city,  had  invited  him.  At 
this  time  he  was  only  seventeen  years  of  age,  yet 
his  parents  ventured  to  intrust  a  younger  brother 

VOL,  I,  T 


274  HISTORY  01?  CHEMISTRT. 

to  his  care,  and  this  care  he  discharged  with  all  the 
fidelity  and  sagacity  of  a  much  older  man.  Here 
he  devoted  himself  to  mathematics  and  physics,  and 
he  soon  after  went  to  Paris  to  improve  lie  happy 
talents  which  he  had  received  from  nature.  He  was 
fortunate  enough  to  meet  with  a  friend  and  relation 
in  the  president,  Henault,  equally  devoted  to  study 
with  himself,  equally  eager  for  information,  and 
possessed  of  equal  honour  and  integrity,  and  equally 
promising  talents. 

He  came  to  Paris  in  1703.  In  1708  he  was  ad- 
mitted into  the  Academy  of  Sciences,  in  the  situation 
of  €lh)e  of  M.  Varignon,  vacant  by  the  promotion  (tf 
M.  Saurin  to  the  rank  of  associate. 

The  first  papers  of  his  which  were  inserted  in  the 
Memoirs  of  the  Academy  were  geometrical :  he  gave 
a  general  method  "of  finding  an  infinity  of  curves, 
described  by  the  extremity  of  a  straight  line,  the 
other  extremity  of  which,  passing  along  the  surface 
of  a  given  curve,  is  always  obliged  to  pass  through  the 
same  point.  Next  year  he  gave  a  geometrical  work  on 
Developes ;  but  this  was  the  last  of  his  mathematical 
tracts.  He  was  charged  by  the  academy  with  the  task 
of  giving  a  description  of  the  arts,  and  his  taste  for 
natural  history  began  to  draw  to  that  study  the  greatest 
part  of  his  attention.  His  first  work  as  a  naturalist 
was  his  observations  on  the  formation  of  shells.  It  waa 
unknown  whether  shells  increase  by  intussusception^ 
like  animal  bodies,  or  by  the  exterior  and  successive 
addition  of  new  parts.  By  a  set  of  delicate  observa- 
tions he  showed  that  shells  are  formed  by  the  addition 
of  new  parts,  and  that  this  was  the  cause  of  the 
variety  of  colour,  shape,  and  size  which  they  usually 
affect.  His  observations  on  snails,  with  a  view  to 
the  way  in  which  their  shells  are  formed,  led  him 
to  the  discovery  of  a  singular  insect,  which  not  only 
lives  on  snails,  but  in  the  inside  of  their  bodies,  froni 
winch  it  neyer  stirs  till  driven  out  by  the  snail. 


tmOBT  in  CHEMISTRt.  375 

During  the  same  year,  he  wrote  his  curious  paper 
on  the  silk  of  spiders*  The  experiments  of  M.  Bohn 
had  shown  that  spiders  could  spin  a  silk  that  might 
he  usefully  employed.  But  it  remained  to  be  seen 
whether  these  creatures  could  be  fed  with  profit,  and 
in  sufficiently  great  numbers  to  produce  a  sufficient 
quantity  of  silk  to  be  of  use.  Reaumur  undertook 
this  di^igreeable  task,  and  showed  that  spiders  could 
not  be  fed  together  without  attacking  and  destroying 
one  another. 

The  next  research  which  he  undertook,  was  to  dis- 
cover in  what  way  certain  sea-animals  are  capable 
of  attaching  themselves  to  fixed  bodies,  and  again 
disengaging  themselves  at  pleasure.  He  discovered 
the  various  threads  and  pinnee  which  some  of  them 
possess  for  this  purpose,  and  the  prodigious  number  of 
limbs  by  which  the  sea-star  is  enabled  to  attach  itself 
to  solid  bodies.  Other  animals  employ  a  kind  of 
cement  to  glue  themselves  to  those  substances  to 
which  they  are  attached,  while  some  fix  themselves 
by  forming  a  vacuum  in  the  interval  between  them- 
selves and  the  solid  substances  to  which  they  are 
attached. 

It  was  at  this  period  that  he  found  great  quantities 
of  the  buccinum,  which  yielded  the  purple  dye  of 
the  ancients,  upon  the  coast  of  Poitou.  He  observed, 
also,  that  the  stones  and  little  sandy  ridges  round 
which  the  shellfish  had  collected  were  covered  with 
a  kind  of  oval  grains,  some  of  which  were  white,  and 
others  of  a  yellowish  colour,  and  having  collected 
and  squeezed  some  of  these  upon  the  sleeve  of  his 
shirt,  so  as  to  wet  it  with  the  liquid  which  they  con- 
tained, he  was  agreeably  surprised  in  about  half  an 
hour  to  find  the  wetted  spot  assume  a  beautiful  purple 
colour,  which  was  not  discharged  by  washing.  He 
collected  a  number  of  these  grains,  and  carrying  them 
to  his  apartment,  bruised  and  squeezed  different  par- 
cels of  them  upon  bits  of  linen;   but  to  his  gieat 

t2 


J76  HlSTOHY  OP  CHEMISTRT. 

surprise,  after  two  or  three  hours,  no  colour  appeared 
on  the  wetted  part;  but,  at  the  same  time,  two  or  three 
spots  of  the  plaster  at  the  window,  on  which  drops  of 
the  liquid  had  fallen,  had  become  purple ;  though  the 
day  was  cloudy.  On  carrying  the  pieces  of  linen  to 
the  window,  and  leaving  them  there,  they  also  acquired 
a  purple  colour.  It  was  the  action  of  light,  then,  on 
the  liquor,  that  caused  it  to  tinge  the  linen.  He  found, 
likewise,  that  when  the  colouring  matter  was  put  into 
a  phial,  which  filled  it  completely,  it  remained  un- 
changed ;  but  when  the  phial  was  not  full,  and  was 
badly  corked,  it  acquired  colour.  From  tiiese  facts 
it  is  evident,  that  the  purple  colour  is  owing  to  the 
joint  action  of  the  light  and  the  oxygen  of  the  at 
mosphere  upon  the  liquor  of  the  shellfish. 

About  this  time,  likewise,  he  made  experiments 
upon  a  subject  which  attracted  the  attention  of  me- 
chanicians— to  determine  whether  the  strength  of  a 
cord  was  greater,  or  less,  or  equal  to  the  joint  strength 
of  all  the  fibres  which  compose  it.  The  result  of 
Reaumur's  experiments  was,  that  the  strength  of  the 
cord  is  less  than  that  of  all  the  fibres  of  which  it  is  com- 
posed. Hence  it  follows,  that  the  less  that  a  cord 
ditfers  from  an  assemblage  of  straight  fibres,  the 
stronger  it  is.  This,  at  that  time  considered  as  a  sin- 
gular mechanical  paradox,  was  afterwards  elucidated 
by  M.  Duhamel. 

It  was  a  popular  opinion  of  all  the  inhabitants  of  the 
sea-shore,  that  when  the  claws  of  crabs,  lobsters,  &c., 
are  lost  by  any  means,  they  are  gradually  replaced 
by  others,  and  the  animal  in  a  short  time  becomes 
as  perfect  as  at  first.  This  opinion  was  ridiculed  by 
men  of  science  as  inconsistent  with  all  our  notions  of 
true  philosophy.  Reaumur  subjected  it  to  the  test 
of  experiment,  by  removing  the  claws  of  these  ani- 
mals, and  keeping  them  alone  for  the  requisite  time 
in  sea- water :  new  claws  soon  sprang  out,  and  per- 
fecfdy  replaced  those  that  had  been  removed.  Thus 


THEORY   IN   CHEMISTRY.  277 

the  common  opinion  was  yerified^and  the  contemptuous 
smile  of  the  half-learned  man  of  science  was  shown  to 
be  the  result  of  ignorance,  not  of  knowledge. 
.  Reaumur  was  not  so  fortunate  in  his  attempts  to  ex- 
plain the  nature  of  the  shock  given  by  the  torpedo ; 
which  we  now  know  to  be  an  electric  shock  produced 
by  a  peculiar  apparatus  within  the  animal.  Reaumur 
endeavoured  to  prove,  from  dissection,  that  the  shock 
was  owing  to  the  prodigious  rapidity  of  the  blow  given 
by  the  animal  in  consequence  of  a  peculiar  structure 
of  its  muscles. 

The  turquoise  was  at  that  time,  as  it  still  is,  con- 
siderably admired  in  consequence  of  the  beauty  of  its 
colour.  Persia  was  the  country  from  which  this  pre- 
cious stone  came,  and  it  was  at  that  time  considered  as 
the  only  country  in  the  universe  where  it  occurred. 
Reaumur  made  a  set  of  experiments  on  the  subject 
and  showed  that  the  fossil  bones  found  in  Languedoc, 
when  exposed  to  a  certain  heat,  assume  the  same 
beautiful  green  colour,  and  become  turquoises  equally 
beautiful  with  the  Persian.  It  is  now  known,  that  the 
true  Persian  turquoise,  the  caZami^e  of  mineralogists,  is 
quite  different  from  fossil  bones  coloured  with  copper. 
So  far,  therefore,  Reaumur  deceived  himself  by  these 
experiments;  but  at  that  time  chemical  knowledge 
was  too  imperfect  to  enable  him  to  subject  Persian 
turquoise  to  an  analysis,  and  determine  its  constitution. 

About  the  same  period,  he  undertook  an  investigation 
of  the  nature  of  imitation  pearls,  which  resemble  the 
true  pearls  so  closely,  that  it  is  very  difficult,  from  ap- 
pearances, to  distinguish  the  true  from  'the  false.  He 
showed  that  the  substance  which  gave  the  false  pearls 
their  colour  and  lustre,  was  taken  from  a  small  fish 
called  by  the  French  able,  or  ablette.  He  likewise 
undertook  an  investigation  of  the  origin  of  true 
pearls,  and  showed  that  they  were  indebted  for  their 
production  to  a  disease  of  the  animal.  It  is  now  known, 
that  the  introduction  of  any  solid  body,  as  a  grain  of 


578  liisToliY  OF  Chemistry. 

sand,  within  the  shell  of  the  living  pearl-shellfish,  gives 
occasion  to  the  formation  of  pearl.  Linnseus  boasted 
that  he  knew  a  method  of  forming  artificial  pearls ;  and 
doubtless  his  process  was  merely  introducing  some 
solid  particle  of  matter  into  the  living  shell.  Pearls 
consist  of  alternate  layers  of  carbonate  of  lime  and 
animal  membrane ;  and  the  colour  and  lustre  to  which 
they  owe  their  value  depends  upon  the  thinness  of  thft 
alternate  coats. 

The  next  paper  of  Reaumur  was  an  account  of  the 
rivers  in  France  whose  sand  yielded  gold-dust,  and  the 
method  employed  to  extract  the  gold.  This  paper  will 
well  repay  the  labour  of  a  perusal ;  it  owes  its  interest 
in  a  great  measure  to  the  way  in  which  the  facts  arc 
laid  before  the  reader. 

His  paper  on  the  prodigious  bank  of  fossil  shells  at 
Touraine,  from  which  the  inhabitants  draw  manure  in 
such  quantities  for  their  fields,  deserves  attention  in  a 
geological  point  of  view.  But  his  paper  on  flints  and 
stones  is  not  so  valuable ;  it  consists  in  speculations, 
which,  from  the  infant  state  of  chemical  analysis  when 
he  wrote,  could  not  be  expected  to  lead  to  correct  con- 
clusions. 

I  pass  over  many  of  the  papers  of  this  most  inde- 
fatigable man,  because  they  are  not  connected  with 
chemistry;  but  his  history  of  insects  constitutes  a 
charming  book,  and  contains  a  prodigious  number  of 
facts  of  the  most  curious  and  important  nature.  This 
book  alone,  supposing  Reaumur  had  done  nothing 
else,  would  have  been  sufficient  to  have  immortalized 
the  author. 

In  the  year  1722  he  published  his  work  on  the  art 
of  converting  iron  into  steely  and  of  softening  cast-' 
iron.  At  that  time  no  steel  whatever  was  made  ia 
France ;  the  nation  was  supplied  with  that  indispensa* 
ble  article  from  foreign  countries,  chiefly  from  Ge^ 
many.  The  object  of  Reaumur's  book  was  to  teadi 
his  countrymen  the  art  of  making  steel,  and^  if  possiMey 


TH20ET  IK  CH£MISTET.  379 

to  explain  the  nature  of  the  process  by  which  iron  is 
changed  into  steel.  Reaumur  concluded  from  his  ex- 
periments, that  steel  is  iron  impregnated  with  sul-' 
phureotis  and  saline  matters.  The  word  sulphureous, 
'  as  at  that  time  used,  was  nearly  synonymous  with  our 
jiresent  term  combustible.  The  process  which  he  found 
to  answer,  and  which  he  recommends  to  be  followed, 
was  to  mix  together 

4    parts  of  soot 

2    parts  of  charcoal-powder 

2    parts  of  wood- ashes 

1 J  parts  of  common  salt. 
The  iron  bars  to  be  converted  into  steel  were  surround- 
ed with  this  mixture,  and  kept  red-hot  till  converted 
into  steel.  Reaumur's  notion  of  the  difference  be- 
tween iron  and  steel  was  an  approximation  to  the 
truth.  The  saline  matters  which  he  added  do  not 
enter  into  the  composition  of  steel ;  and  if  they  did,  so 
far  from  improving,  they  would  injure  its  qualities. 
But  the  charcoal  and  soot,  which  consist  chiefly  of 
carbon,  really  produce  the  desired  effect ;  for  steel  is 
a  combination  of  iron  and  carbon. 

In  consequence  of  these  experiments  of  Reaumur,  it 
came  to  be  an  opinion  entertained  by  chemists,  that 
Steel  differed  from  iron  merely  by  containing  a  greater 
proportion  of  phlogiston  ;  for  the  charcoal  and  soot 
with  which  the  iron  bars  were  surrounded  was  consi- 
dered as  consisting  almost  entirely  of  phlogiston ;  and 
the  only  useful  purpose  which  they  could  serve,  was 
Supposed  to  be  to  furnish  phlogiston.  This  opinion 
continued  prevalent  till  it  was  overturned  towards  the 
end  of  the  last  century,  first  by  the  experiments  of 
Bergmann,  and  afterwards  by  those  of  Berthollet, 
Vandermond,  and  Monge,  published  in  the  Memoirs  of 
the  French  Academy  for  1786  (page  132).  In  this 
elaborate  memoir  the  authors  take  a  view  of  all  the 
different  processes  followed  in  bringing  iron  from  the 
ore  to  the  stc^  of  steel :  they  then  give  an  account  of 


280  UlSTDBT    01    CHLSriSTlIT, 

the  researclifct  c>f  Reaumur  and  of  Berrmami :  and  lasdy 
relutt  the  I!  OWL  erJ»t;^i^lenI^..  frniL  vfiicn  xher  finally 
cb{-.w.  sif  fc  i-oriclusiiiL.  tiib:  si  eel  i>  h  con^iKtuod  of  irwi 

Th^  reijt:::  ^.»ri'.'fc.i:r^.  vb:.  &:  liuii  time  administered 
th*:  fefiiiTb  of  FrLiic-t.  :ii:.-jr:-  tiiLi  ihi>  vcn-k  of  Keau- 
luv!  \v•i^^  ':'e^^!^-:::r  a  revcj-d.  and  a:-cTrrdiii£:ly  ottered 
}ii:?.' sr.  prriit-l'-L  r.f  jC.''.«''  li'T^s.  FieaTimu:  requested 
of  tL»:  r^ii-.Lt  ;"::c;"i  iLir  iieii>i:n:  sbouj:!  "r»e  ri^ren  in  the 
uajji'r  of  i:.r:  ai-adtmy.  Lud  \hhx  tfiiT  Lis  deaih  it  should 
corjtirjf'r.  c.rid  be  dev::ed  t-j  defriiT  ihe  necessiiT  ex- 
pensts  towards  briiiirlD^  "Ve  a^.^  Ilv;!  a  sti:.i-  of  perfec- 
1 10 Ji .  The  re '-^  u  e ■-:  vi^t  ^an:  e  d ,  an d  : h e  1 1  n ers  patent 
made  outorj  the  *2-2d  of  December.  17C*2. 

At  tljat  ti.T^e  tirj-pVa^e.  a?  v.el]  ris  steel,  "was  not  made 
in  Vr<:.u<:(', ;  but  alJ  the  tirs-ijlaie?  warned  were  brought 
froiij   Germany,  where  the   prc^cesses  fcliowed  were 
kept  profoundly  secret.     Reaumur  undertook  to  dis- 
cover a  n:et}jod  of  tiunins:  iron  suScientiv  cheap  to 
admit  tlie  article  to  be  manufactured  in  France — and 
ha  succeeded.      The  difficulty  consisted  in  removing 
the  scales  with  which  the  iron  plates,  as  prepared,  were 
alwavs  covered.      These  scales  consist  of  a  vitrified 
oxide  of  iron,  to  which  the  tin  will  not  unite.  Reaumur 
found,  that  when  these  plates  are  steeped  in  water 
acidulated  by  means  of  bran,  and  then  allowed  to  rust  in 
stoves,  the  scales  become  loose,  and  are  easily  detached 
by  rubbinj^  the  plates  with  sand.      If  after  being  thus 
cleansed  they  are  plunj^ed  into  melted  tin,  covered  with 
a  little  tallow  to  prevent  oxidizement,  they  are  easily 
tinned.      In  (consequence  of  this  explanation  of  the 
pro(jess   by   Reaumur,   tin-plate  manufactories  were 
speedily  established  in  different  parts  of  France.     It 
waj^  about  the  same  time,  or  only  a  little  before  it, 
that  tin-plate  manufactories  were  first  started  in  Eng^ 
land.     The  lilnj^lish  tin-plate  was  much  more  beautiful 
than  the  German,  and  therefore  immediately  preferred 
"    *"    Hecause  in  Germany  the  iron  was  converted  into 


THEORY   IN    CHEMISTRT.  281 

pbtes  by  hammering,  whereas  in  England  it  was  rolled 
OQt  This  made  it  much  smoother,  and  consequently 
niore  beautiful. 

Another  art,  at  that  time  unknown  in  France,  and 
indeed  in  every  part  of  Europe  except  Saxony,  was 
the  art  of  making  porcelain,  a  name  given  to  the 
l)eautiful  translucent  stoneware  which  is  brought  from 
China  and  Japan.  Reaumur  undertook  to  discover 
the  process  employed  in  making  it.  He  procured 
specimens  of  porcelain  from  China  and  Japan,  and 
also  of  the  imitations  of  those  vessels  at  that  time 
made  in  various  parts  of  France  and  other  European 
countries.  The  true  porcelain  remained  unaltered, 
though  exposed  to  the  most  violent  heat  which  he  was 
capable  of  producing ;  but  the  imitations,  in  a  fur- 
nace heated  by  no  means  violently,  melted  into  a 
perfect  glass.  Hence  he  concluded,  that  the  imita- 
tion-porcelains were  merely  glass,  not  heated  suffi- 
ciently to  be  brought  into  fusion ;  but  true  porcelain 
he  conceived  to  be  composed  of  two  different  ingre- 
dients, one  of  which  is  capable  of  resisting  the  most 
violent  heat  which  can  be  raised,  but  the  other,  when 
heated  sufficiently,  melts  into  a  glass.  It  is  this  last 
ingredient  that  gives  porcelain  its  translucency^  while 
the  other  makes  it  refractory  in  the  fire.  This  opinion 
of  Reaumur  was  soon  after  confirmed  by  Father 
d'Entrecolles,  a  French  missionary  in*  China,  who 
sent  some  time  after  a  memoir  to  the  academy,  de- 
scribing the  mode  followed  by  the  Chinese  in  the  ma- 
nufactory of  their  porcelain.  Two  substances  are 
employed  by  them,  the  one  called  kaolin  and  the 
other  petunse.  It  is  now  known  that  kaolin  is  what 
we  call  porcelain-clay,  and  that  petunse  is  a  fine 
white  felspar.  Felspar  is  fusible  in  a  violent  heat,  but 
porcelain-clay  is  refractory  in  the  highest  temperatures 
that  we  have  it  in  our  power  to  produce  in  furnaces. 

Reaumur  made  another    curious   observation  on 
glass,  which  has  been,  since  his  time,  employed  N^t^ 


2S2  insTOiLT  or  CEmsTET. 


Euc::ebbiul'y  to  frrpihiL  liie  bpTisartiiires  of  jDatny 
our  irfcp-ro'jiLs..     I:  l  rjas*  v^ase..  urnper^y  seciiZTed  iim 
bLi;i.   :.»*:  TLisei  1'   t  ri'i   tif^a:..  lul  irtf^  aljcwed  to 
C'^j.  "ier>-  fcj'.'v:y.  i:  tii::*  :if  in-:  fci»psLr£i»«   of  glass 
kuci  ii»;tiuiij*;i  iiiLi  j:  si:»Di'VLri^  ar  p:»rceiiii:.  Vessels 
tii.ii  Lj*.er*;ci  iitTfc  rei-eiied  ibf-  nzjne  of  i?£-awmvr*J 
p(/rcihi7c.  Tijty  tre  n.Tjc"n  nicire  reiradOTT  tban  glass* 
tXiCi  Hj^iTriiT*:  iLLT  \ft  trpw^ed  Tj  2.  preny  siroiLg  red 
li-iai  v/uLjut  LLy  ditiiirfci  cc  s-'iiteidni:  or  Josing  their 
fci^ajiv.     Tl:*  ciii^Lrr  25  ciccaf-JinijCjQ  t'T  the  glass  being 
kepi  ior.-;:  Il  a  r-ofi  >ulU:  :  ibe  Ttnous  substaiices  of 
ikij:''.:j  ji  i=  coTLp'ji^d  <ire  l:  ilbcrrr  to  exerc-ise  their 
'<im:.:i.r:b  hjid  to  cr^-^TbiLize-  Tr^is  makes  the  vessel  lose 
Jti  c'iii'iST  f-tri.  n -.re  ZLiTOL'rtber.     In  like  manner  it  was 
fouLU  L»Y  rii:  Jhii,tr  Hiill  and  Mr.  Greirorr  Watt,  that 
T^iihii    f^jUiiii^jJi    green rtone   ^as  heated   su^ciendy, 
and  then  rapirilv  cooled,  it  melied  and  concreted  into 
a  gla--:-;;  but  if  after  havin^been  melted  it  was  allowed 
Xfj  iyyA   exoeedinslv   si  owl  v.  the  constituents  asrain 
crvfcta.'Jizfcd  and  arrancred  themselves  as  at  first — so 
tliat  a  tru'r  ^eenstone  was  again  formed.  In  the  same 
way  lavas  from  a  volcano  either  assume  the  appearance 
of  fe]a;r  or  of  stone,  according  as  they  have  cooled  ra- 
pidly or  slowly.     Many  of  the  lavas  from  Vesuvius 
cannot  be  distinjruished  from  our  greenstones. 

ilc'aiirnur*8  labours  upon  the  thermometer  must  not 
be  omitted  hr^e  ;  because  he  gave  his  name  to  a  ther« 
moincter,  which  was  long  used  in  France  and  in  other 
parts  of  Kurope.  The  first  person  that  brought  Uier-* 
morneters  into  a  state  capable  of  being  compared  with 
each  oUier  was  Sir  Isaac  Newton,  in  a  paper  published 
in  the  Philosophical  Transactions  for  1701.  Fahren- 
h(;it,  of  Amsterdam,  was  the  first  person  that  put 
Newton's  method  in  practice,  by  fixing  two  points  on 
kin  Hcale,  the  freezing-water  point  and  the  boiling* 
water  point,  and  dividing  the  interval  between  them 
into  one  hundred  and  eighty  degrees. 

but  no  fixed  point  existed  in  the  thermometers  em* 


t 


I 


THEOAT  IN   CHEMISTRr.  283 

Idoyed  in  France,  every  one  graduating  them  accord* 
s^-  ing  to  his  fancy ;  so  that  no  two  thermometers  could 
ti '  le  compared  together.  Reaumur  graduated  his  ther- 
0  ttometers  by  plunging  them  into  freezing  water  or  a 
i^l  loixture  of  snow  and  water.  This  point  was  marked 
ttro,  and  was  called  the  freezing-water  point.  The 
liquid  used  in  his  thermometers  was  spirit  of  wine : 
h^  took  care  that  it  should  be  always  of  the  same 
^l  strength,  and  the  interval  between  the  point  of  freez- 
ff  ing  and  boiling  water  was  divided  into  eighty  degrees. 
Deluc  afterwards  rectified  this  thermometer,  by  sub- 
stituting mercury  for  spirit  of  wine.  This  not  only  en- 
abled the  thermometer  to  be  used  to  measure  higher 
temperatures,  but  corrected  an  obvious  error  which 
existed  in  all  the  thermometers  constructed  upon 
Reaumur's  principle :  for  spirit  of  wine  cannot  bear  a 
temperature  of  eighty  degrees  Reaumur  without  being 
dissipated  into  vapour — absolute  alcohol  boiling  at  a 
hundred  and  sixty-two  degrees  two-thirds.  It  is  ob- 
vious from  this,  that  the  boiling  point  in  Reaumur's 
thermometer  could  not  be  accurate,  and  that  it  would 
vary,  according  to  the  quantity  of  empty  space  left 
above  the  alcohol. 

■    Finally,  he  contrived  a  method  of  hatching  chickens 
by  means  of  artificial  heat,  as  is  practised  in  Egypt. 

We  are  indebted  to  him  also  for  a  set  of  important 
observations  on  the  organs  of  digestion  iu  birds.  He 
showed,  that  in  birds  of  prey,  which  live  wholly  upon 
animal  food,  digestion  is  performed  by  solvents  in  the 
stomach,  as  is  the  case  with  digestion  iu  man  :  while 
those  birds  that  live  upon  vegetable  food  have  a  very 
powerful  stomach  or  gizzard,  capable  of  triturating 
the  seeds  which  they  swallow.  To  facilitate  this  tri- 
turating process,  these  fowls  are  in  the  habit  of  swal- 
bwing  small  pebbles. 

The  moral  qualities  of  M.  Reaumur  seem  not  to  have 
been  inferior  to  the  extent  and  variety  of  his  acquire* 
ment««    He  was  kind  and  benevolent,  and  remsurkably 


284  HISTORY  OF   CHEMISTRY. 

disinterested.  He  performed  the  duties  of  intend 
of  the  order  of  St.  Louis  from  the  year  1 735  till 
death,  without  accepting  any  of  the  emolument 
the  office,  all  of  which  were  most  religiously  given 
the  person  to  whom  they  belonged,  had  she  beeti 
pable  of  performing  the  duties  of  the  place.  • 
Reaumur  died  on  the  17th  of  October,  1756,  ai 
having  lived  very  nearly  seventy-five  years. 

John  Hellot  was  born  in  Paris  in  the  year  1685, 
the  20th  of  November.  His  father,  Michael  Hd 
was  of  a  respectable  family,  and  the  early  part  of' 
son's  education  was  at  home ;  it  seems  to  have  b 
excellent,  as  young  Hellot  acquired  the  difficult 
of  writing  on  all  manner  of  subjects  in  a  precise,  di 
and  elegant  style.  His  father  intended  him  for 
church ;  but  his  own  taste  led  him  decidedly  16*' 
study  of  chemistry.  He  had  an  uncle  a  physfaj 
some  of  whose  papers  on  chemical  subjects  fell  i 
his  hands.  This  circumstance  kindled  his  naturalt 
into  a  flame  :  he  formed  an  acquaintance  with* 
GeofFroy,  whose  reputation  as  a  chemist  was  at  j 
time  high,  and  this  friendship  was  afterwards  cemest 
by  GeofFroy  marrying  the  niece  of  M.  Hellot. 

His  circumstances  being  easy,  he  went  oVfl 
England,  to  form  a  personal  acquaintance  wiA 
many  eminent  philosophers  who  at  that  time  'add! 
that  country.  His  fortune  was  considerably  denCJI 
•  by  Law's  celebrated  scheme  during  the  regency  iS 
Duke  of  Orleans.  This  obliged  him  to  look  ouSfc 
some  resource:  he  became  editor  of  the  Grazetfa 
France,  and  continued  in  this  employment  from  1 
to  1732.  During  these  fourteen  years,  howevrffc 
did  not  neglect  chemistry,  though  his  progreil"' 
not  so  rapid  as  it  would  have  been,  could  he  ha^ 
voted  to  that  science  his  undivided  attention.  Im 
he  was  put  forward  by  his  friends  as  a  candidate! 
place  in  the  Academy  of  Sciences ;  and  in  tim. 
1735  he  was  chosen  adjunct  chemist,  vacant  Vjf 


r 


THEORT   IN   CHEMISTRY.  285 

t  pbmotion  of  M.  de  la  Condamine  to  the  place  of  as- 
I  socitte.  Three  years  after  he  was  declared  a  super- 
(  somerary  pensioner,  without  passing  through  the  step 
3  of  associate.  His  reputation  as  a  chemist  was  already 
.  ooQsiderable,  and  after  he  became  a  member  of  the 
[,  aetdemyy  he  devoted  himself  to  the  investigations 
connected  with  his  favourite  science. 

His  first  labours  were  on  zinc ;  in  two  successive 
fSfen  he  endeavoured  to  decompose  this  metal,  and 
to  ascertain  the  nature  of  its  constituents.  Though 
liis  labour  was  unsuccessful ,  yet  he  pointed  out  many 
new  properties  of  this  metal,  and  various  new  com- 
pounds into  which  it  enters.  Neither  was  he  more 
successful  in  his  attempt  to  account  for  the  origin  of 
the  red  vapours  which  are  exhaled  from  nitre  in 
certain  circumstances.  He  ascribed  them  to  the 
presence  of  ferruginous  matters  in  the  nitre  ;  whereas 
they  are  owing  to  the  expulsion  and  partial  decompo- 
ution  of  the  nitric  acid  of  the  nitre,  in  consequence  of 
the  action  of  some  more  powerful  acid. 

His  paper  on  sympathetic  ink  is  of  more  importance. 
A  German  chemist  had  shown  him  a  saline  solution  of 
a  red  colour  which  became  blue  when  heated :  this 
led  him  to  form  a  sympathetic  ink,  which  was  pale 
red,  while  the  paper  was  moist,  but  became  blue  upon 
drying  it  by  holding  it  to  the  fire.  This  sympathetic 
ink  was  a  solution  of  cobalt  in  muriatic  acid.  It  does 
not  appear  from  Hellot's  paper  that  he  was  exactly 
aware  of  the  chemical  constitution  of  the  liquid  which 
constituted  his  sympathetic  ink ;  though  it  is  clear  he 
knew  that  cobalt  constitutes  an  essential  part  of  it. 

KunkeFs  phosphorus,  though  it  had  been  originally 
discovered  in  Germany,  could  not  be  prepared  by  any 
of  the  processes  which  had  been  given  to  the  public. 
Boyle  had  taught  his  operator,  Godfrey  Hankwitz,  the 
method  of  making  it.  This  man  had,  after  Boyle's 
death,  opened  a  chemist's  shop  in  London,  and  it  was 
be  that  supplied  all  Europe  with  this  curious  article : 


286  HISTO&T  OF  CUEHISTBY. 

on  that  account  it  was  usually  distinguished  by  die 
name  of  English  phosphorus.  But  in  the  year  1737 
a  stranger  appeared  in  Paris,  who  offered  for  a  stipa* 
lated  reward  to  communicate  the  method  of  manufac-* 
turing  this  substance  to  the  Academy  of  Sciences. 
The  offer  was  accepted  by  the  French  govemmenty 
and  a  committee  of  the  academy,  at  the  head  of  which 
was  Hellot,  was  appointed  to  witness  the  process,  and 
ascertain  ail  its  steps.  The  process  was  repeated  with 
success ;  and  Hellot  drew  up  a  minute  detail  of  the 
whole,  which  was  inserted  in  the  Memoirs  of  the  Aca« 
demy,  for  the  year  1737.  The  publication  of  thtt 
paper  constitutes  an  era  in  the  preparation  of  phos* 
phorus :  it  was  henceforward  in  the  power  of  everj 
chemist  to  prepare  it  for  himself.  A  few  years  aftef 
the  process  was  much  improved  by  Margraaf ;  and, 
within  little  more  than  twenty  years  after,  the  very 
convenient  process  still  in  use  was  suggested  by  Scheele. 
Hellot's  experiments  on  the  comparative  merits  of  the 
salts  of  Peyrac,  and  of  Pecais  were  of  importance, 
because  they  decided  a  dispute — they  may  also  per- 
haps be  considered  as  curiosities  in  an  historical  point 
of  view  ;  because  we  see  from  them  the  methods  which 
Hellot  had  recourse  to  at  that  early  period  in  order  to 
determine  the  purity  of  common  salt.  They  are  not 
entitled,  however,  to  a  more  particular  notice  here. 

In  the  year  1740  M.  Hellot  was  charged  with  the 
general  inspection  of  dyeing;  a  situation  whidl 
M.  du  Foy  had  held  till  the  time  of  his  death  in  1739. 
It  was  this  appointment,  doubtless,  'which  turned  hit 
attention  to  the  theory  of  dyeing,  which  he  tried  to 
explain  in  two  memoirs  read  to  the  academy  in  1740 
and  1741.  The  subject  was  afterwards  prosecuted  by 
him  in  subsequent  memoirs  which  were  published  1^ 
the  academy. 

In  1745  he  was  named  to  go  to  Lyons  in  order  to 

examine  with  care  the  processes  followed  for  refining 

gold  and  silver.    Before  his  return  he  took  care  to 


tBMtLY  JH  CHElOST&Ti  287 

gm  to  tbese  procesies  the  requisiie  predskm  and  ex- 
actness. Immediately  after  hu  return  to  Pans  he  was 
appointed  to  examine  the  different  mines  and  assay 
the  different  ores  in,  France ;  this  appointment  led  him 
to  torn  his  thoughts  to  the  subject.  The  result  of  this 
was  the  publication  of  an  excellent  work  on  assaying 
and  metalluigy,  entitled  **  De  la  Fonte  des  Mines,  dea 
FonderieSy  &c.  Traduit  de  I'Allemand  de  Christophe- 
Andre  Schlutter."  The  first  volume  of  this  book 
appeared  in  1750,  and  the  second  in  1753.  Though 
this  book  is  called  by  Hellot  a  translation,  it  contains 
in  fact  a  great  deal  of  original  matter ;  the  arrange- 
ment is  quite  altered ;  many  processes  not  noticed  by 
Schlutter  are  given,  and  many  essential  articles  are 
introduced,  which  had  been  totally  omitted  in  the 
original  work.  He  begins  with  an  introduction,  in 
which  he  gives  a  short  sketch  of  all  the  mines  existing 
in  every  part  of  France,  together  with  some  notice  of 
the  present  state  of  each.  The  first  volume  treats  en- 
tirely of  docimasy,  or  the  art  of  assaying  the  different 
metallic  ores.  Though  this  art  has  been  much  im- 
proved since  Hellot's  time,  yet  the  processes  given  in 
this  volume  are  not  without  their  value.  The  second 
volume  treats  of  the  various  metallurgic  processes  fol- 
lowed in  order  to  extract  metals  from  their  ores.  This 
volume  is  furnished  with  no  fewer  than  fifty-five  plates, 
in  which  all  the  various  furnaces,  &c.  used  in  these 
processes  are  exhibited  to  the  eye. 

While  occupied  in  preparing  this  work  for  the  press 
he  was  chosen  to  endeavour  to  bring  the  porcelain  ma- 
nufactory at  Sevre  to  a  greater  state  of  perfection  than 
it  had  yet  reached.  In  this  he  was  successful.  He 
even  discovered  various  new  colours  proper  for  paint- 
ing upon  porcelain ;  which  contributed  to  give  to  this 
manufactory  the  celebrity  which  it  acquired. 

In  the  year  1763  a  phenomenon  at  that  time  quite 
new  to  France  took  place  in  the  coal-mine  of  Brian^on. 
A  quantity  of  carbuietted  hydrogen  gas  had  collected 


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ij        ■  .i      ■        .       ..-■   -  -  . 

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wf  ijr-f.  :  -\:u:i:"r-  :ir  :—  --  ■'  .^  ■•^i  ■  r  m 
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7*/.|/|   tf,  t  /tf-f  rt,*f\r,'^\   Uf:iitrr.-:[i*.  and   he   dk 
Mr    !*;»}»  /,f  tlijit   rrionUi,   fit  an  atre  a  little  b 


•  1703,  p.  235. 


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3 


tHBOKT  nr  CHunsTRY.  289. 

Hcmy  Louis  Dubunel  du  Monceau  was  bom  at 

in  tlie  year  1700.     He  was  descended  from 

lodi  Duhamely  a  Dutch    grentleman,  who  came  to 

Rmce  in  the  suite  of  the  infamous  Duke  of  Bur* 

gandyy  about  the  year  1400.     Young  Duhamel  was 

edacaled  in  the  College  of  Haicourt ;  but  the  course 

of  study  did  not  suit  his  taste.     He  left  it  with  only 

one  &ct  engraven  on  his  memory — ^that  men,  by  ob* 

lerving  nature,  had  created  a  science  called  physics; 

and  he  resolved  to  profit  by  his  freedom  from  restraint 

and  turn  the  whole  of  his  attention  to  that  subject. 

He  lodged  near  the  Jardin  du  Roi,  where  alone,  at 

that  time,  physics  were  attended  to  in  Paris.     Dufoy, 

Geoffipoy,  Lemery,  Jussieu,  and  Vaillant,  were  the 

friends  with  whom  he  associated  on  coming  to  Paris. 

His  industry  was  stimulated  solely  by  a  love  of  study, 

and  by  the  pleasure  which  he  derived  from  the  increase 

of  knowledge ;  love  of  fame  does  not  appear  to  have 

entered  into  his  account. 

In  the  year  1718  saffron,  which  is  much  cultivated 
in  that  part  of  France  formerly  distinguished  by  the 
name  of  Gatinois,  where  DuhameFs  property  lay,  was 
attacked  by  a  malady  which  appeared  contagious. 
Healthy  bulbs,  when  placed  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
those  that  were  diseased,  soon  became  affected  with 
the  same  malady.  Government  consulted  the  aca- 
demy on  the  subject ;  and  this  learned  body  thought 
they  could  not  do  better  than  request  M.  Duhamel  to 
investigate  the  cause  of  the  disease ;  though  he  was 
only  eighteen  years  of  age,  and  not  even  a  member 
of  the  academy.  He  ascertained  that  the  malady 
was  owing  to  a  parasitical  plant,  which  attached  itself 
to  the  bulb  of  the  saffron,  and  drew  nourishment  from 
it.  This  plant  extended  under  the  earth,  from  one 
bulb  to  another,  and  thus  infected  the  whole  saffron 
plantations. 

M.  Duhamel  formed  the  resolution  at  the  com- 
mencement of  his  scientific  career  to  devote  himself 

VOL.  I.  u 


2d0  BISTORT  or  CHEMISTRY. 

to  public  utility,  and  to  prosecute  those  sobjects  wfaicb 
were  likely  to  contribute  most  effectually  to  the  com- 
fort of  the  lower  ranks  of  men.  Much  of  his  time 
was  sfient  in  endeavouring  to  promote  the  culture  of 
vegetables,  and  in  rendering  that  culture  more  useful 
to  society.  This  naturally  led  to  a  careful  study  of 
the  physiology  of  trees.  The  fruit  of  this  study  he 
gave  to  the  world  in  the  year  1758,  when  his  Physique 
des  Arbres  was  published.  This  constitutes  one  of 
the  most  important  works  on  the  subject  which  hat 
ever  appeared.  It  contains  a  great  number  of  new 
and  original  facts ;  and  contributed  very  much  indeed 
to  advance  this  difficult,  but  most  important  branch 
of  science  :  nor  is  it  less  remarkable  for  modesty  than 
for  value.  The  facts  gathered  from  other  sources, 
even  those  which  make  against  his  own  opinions,  are 
most  carefully  and  accurately  stated :  the  experiments 
that  preceded  his  are  repeated  and  verified  with  much 
care  ;  and  the  reader  is  left  to  discover  the  new  facts 
and  new  views  of  the  author,  without  any  attempt 
on  his  part  to  claim  them  as  his  own. 

M.  Duhamel  had  been  attached  to  the  department 
of  the  marine  by  M.  de  Maurepas,  who  had  given  him 
the  title  of  inspector-general.  This  led  him  to  turn 
his  attention  to  naval  science  in  general.  The  con- 
struction of  vessels,  the  weaving  of  sailcloths,  the 
construction  of  ropes  and  cables,  the  method  of  pre- 
serving the  wood,  occupied  his  attention  successively, 
and  gave  birth  to  several  treatises,  which,  like  all  ms 
works,  contain  immense  collections  of  facts  and  experi- 
ments. He  endeavours  always  to  discover  which  is 
the  best  practice,  to  reduce  it  to  fixed  rules,  and  to 
support  it  by  philosophical  principles ;  but  abstains 
from  all  theory  when  it  can  be  supported  only  by 
hypothesis. 

From  the  year  1740,  when  he  became  an  academi-* 
cian,  till  his  death  in  1781,  he  made  a  regular  set  of 
meteorological  observations  at  Pithiviers,  with  details 


THEORY  IN  CHBHIBTRT.  291 

relative  to  the  direction  of  the  needle,  to  agriculture, 
to  the  medical  constitution  of  the  year,  and  to  the  time 
of  nest*building,  and  of  the  passage  of  birds. 

Above  sixty  memoirs  of  his  were  published]  in  the 
Transactions  of  the  French  Academy  of  Sciences. 
They  are  so  multifarious  in  their  nature,  and  embrace 
^ch  a  variety  of  subjects,  that  I  shall  not  attempt 
even  to  give  their  titles,  but  satisfy  myself  with  stating 
such  only  as  bear  more  immediately  upon  the  science 
of  chemistry. 

It  will  be  proper  in  conducting  this  review  to  notice 
the  result  of  his  labours  connected  with  the  ossification 
of  bones ;  because,  though  not  strictly  chemical,  they 
throw  light  upon  some  branches  of  the  animal  economy, 
more  closely  connected  with  chemistry  than  with  any 
other  of  the  sciences.  He  examined,  in  the  first  place, 
whether  the  ossification  of  bones,  and  their  formation 
and  reparation,  did  not  follow  the  same  law  that  he 
bad  assigned  to  the  increments  of  trees,  and  he  esta- 
blished, by  a  set  of  experiments,  that  bones  increase 
by  the  ossification  of  layers  of  the  periosteum,  as  trees 
do  by  the  hardening  of  their  cortical  layers.  Bones  in 
a  soft  state  increase  in  every  direction,  like  the  young 
branches  of  plants  ;  but  after  their  induration  they  in- 
crease only  like  trees,  by  successive  additions  of  suc- 
cessive layers.  This  organization  was  incompatible 
with  the  opinion  of  those  who  thought  that  bones  in- 
creased by  the  addition  of  an  earthy  matter  deposited 
in  the  meshes  of  the  organized  network  which  forms 
the  texture  of  bones.  M.  Duhamel  combated  this 
opinion  by  an  ingenious  experiment.  He  had  been 
informed  by  Sir  Hans  Sloane  that  the  bones  of  young 
animals  fed  upon  madder  were  tinged  red.  He  con- 
ceived the  plan  of  feeding  them  alternately  with  food 
mingled  with  madder,  and  with  ordinary  food.  The 
bones  of  animals  thus  treated  were  found  to  present 
alternate  concentric  layers  of  red  and  white,  corre- 
iponding  to  the  different  periods  in  which  the  animal 

u  2 


892  HlftTORf  OF   dHEMISTRY. 

had  been  fed  with  food  containing  or  not  containing 
madder.  When  these  bones  are  sawn  longitudinally  we 
see  the  thickness  of  the  coloured  layers,  greater  or  less, 
according  to  the  number  of  plates  of  the  periosteum 
that  have  ossified.  As  for  the  portions  still  soft,  or 
susceptible  of  extending  themselves  in  every  direction, 
such  as  the  plates  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  mar- 
row, the  reservoir  of  which  increases  during  a  part  of 
the  time  that  the  animal  continues  to  grow,  the  red 
colour  marks  equally  the  progress  of  their  ossification 
by  coloured  points  more  or  less  extended. 

This  opinion  was  attacked  by  Haller,  and  defended 
by  M.  Fougeroux,  nephew  of  M.  Duhamel ;  but  it  is 
not  our  businiess  here  to  inquire  how  far  correct. 

One  of  the  most  important  of  M.  Duhamel's  papers, 
which  will  secure  his  name  a  proud  station  in  the 
annals  of  chemistry,  is  that  which  was  inserted  in 
the  Memoirs  of  the  Academy  for  1737,  in  which  he 
shows  that  the  base  of  common  salt  is  a  true  fixed 
alkali,  different  in  some  respects  from  the  alkali  ex- 
tracted from  land  plants,  and  known  by  the  name  of 
potash^  but  similar  to  that  obtained  by  the  incinera- 
tion of  marine  plants.  We  are  surprised  that  a  fact 
80  simple  and  elementary  was  disputed  by  the  French 
chemists,  and  rather  indicated  than  proved  by  Stahl 
and  his  followers.  The  conclusions  of  Duhamel  were 
disputed  by  Pott ;  but  finally  confirmed  by  Margraaf. 
M.  Duhamel  carried  his  researches  further,  he  wished  to 
know  if  the  difference  between  potash  and  soda  depends 
on  the  plants  that  produce  them,  or  on  the  nature  of 
the  soil  in  which  they  grow.  He  sowed  kali  at  Denain- 
villiers,  and  continued  his  experiments  during  a  great 
number  of  years.  M.  Cadet,  at  his  request,  examined 
the  salts  contained  in  the  ashes  of  the  kali  of  Denain* 
villiers.  He  found  that  during  the  first  year  soda  pre- 
dominated in  these  ashes.  During  the  successive 
years  the  potash  increased  rapidly,  and  at  last  the 
soda  almost  entirely  disappeared.  It  was  obvious  from 


THEORY  IV  CHSMI8TRT.  S99 

this,  that  the  alkalies  in  plants  are  drawn  at  least 
chiefly  from  the  soil  in  which  they  vegetate. 

The  memoirs  of  M.  Duhamel  on  ether,  at  that  time 
almost  unknown,  on  soluble  tartars,  and  on  lime,  con- 
tain many  facts  both  curious  and  accurately  stated ; 
though  our  present  knowledge  of  these  bodies  is  so 
much  greater  than  his — the  new  facts  ascertained  re- 
specting them  are  so  numerous  and  important,  that  the 
contributions  of  this  early  experimenter,  which  pro- 
bably had  a  considerable  share  in  the  success  of  sub- 
sequent investigations,  are  now  ahnost  forgotten.  Nor 
would  many  readers  bear  patiently  with  an*  attempt 
to  enumerate  them. 

There  is  a  curious  paper  of  his  in  the  Memoirs  of 
the  Academy  for  1757.  In  this  he  gives  the  details 
of  a  spontaneous  combustion  of  large  .  pieces  of 
cloth  soaked  in  oil  and  strongly  pressed.  Cloth  thus 
prepared  had  often  produced  similar  accidents.  Those 
who  were  fortunate  enough  to  prevent  them,  took  care 
to  conceal  the  facts,  partly  from  ignorance  of  the  real 
cause  of  the  combustion,  and  partly  from  a  fear  that  if 
they  were  to  state  what  they  saw,  their  testimony  would 
not  gain  credit.  If  the  combustion  had  not  been  pre- 
vented, then  the  public  voice  would  have  charged  those 
who  had  the  care  of  the  cloths  with  culpable  negligence, 
or  even  with  criminal  conduct.  The  observation  of 
M.  Duhamel,  therefore,  was  useful,  in  order  to  prevent 
such  unjust  suspicions  from  hindering  those  concerned 
from  taking  the  requisite  precautions.  Yet,  twenty 
years  after  the  publication  of  his  paper,  two  accidental 
spontaneous  combustions,  in  Russia,  were  ascribed  to 
treason.  The  empress  Catharine  II.  alone  suspected 
that  the  combustion  was  spontaneous,  and  experi- 
ments made  by  her  orders  fully  confirmed  the  evidence 
previously  advanced  by  the  French  philosopher. 

One  man  alone  would  have  been  insufficient  for  all 
the  labours  undertaken  by  M.  Duhamel;  but  he  had 
a  brother  who  lived  upon  bis  estate  at  Denaiuvilliers 


294  HISTO&T  07  CHEXI8T11T. 

(the  name  of  which  he  bore),  and  divided  his  time  be- 
tvfvv.ii  the  performance  of  benevolent  actions  and 
studyinp^  the  operations  of  nature.  M.  Denainvilliers 
prost^cuted  in  his  retreat  the  observations  and  experi- 
ments intrusted  by  his  brother  to  his  chai^.  Thus 
in  fact  the  memoirs  of  Duhamel  exhibit  the  assi- 
duous labours  of  two  individuals,  one  of  whom  con- 
tentedly remained  unknown  to  the  world,  satisfied 
with  the  good  which  he  did,  and  the  favours  which  he 
conferred  upon  his  country  and  the  human  race. 

The  works  of  M.  Duhamel  are  very  voluminous, 
and  are  all  written  with  the  utmost  plainness.  Every 
thinj^  is  elementary,  no  previous  knowledge  is  taken 
for  granted.  His  writings  are  not  addressed  to  philo- 
sophers, but  to  all  those  who  are  in  quest  of  practical 
knowledge.  He  has  been  accused  of  difiuseness  of 
style,  and  of  want  of  correctness;  but  his  style  is 
simple  and  clear ;  and  as  his  object  was  to  inform,  not 
philosophers,  but  the  common  people,  greater  con- 
ciseness would  have  been  highly  injudicious. 

Neither  he  nor  his  brother  ever  married,  but  thought 
it  better  to  devote  their  undivided  attention  to  study. 
Both  were  assiduous  in  no  ordinary  degree,  but  the 
ardour  of  Duhamel  himself  continued  nearly  undi- 
minished till  within  a  year  of  his  death  ;  when,  though 
he  still  attended  the  meetings  of  the  academy,  he  no 
longer  took  the  same  interest  in  its  proceedings.  On 
the  22d  of  July,  1781,  just  after  leaving  the  academy, 
he  was  struck  with  apoplexy,  and  died  after  lingering 
twenty-two  days  in  a  state  of  coma. 

He  was  without  doubt  one  of  the  most  eminent  men 
of  the  age  in  which  he  lived ;  but  his  merits  as  a  che- 
mist will  chiefly  be  remembered  in  consequence  of  hii 
being  the  first  person  who  demonstrated  by  satisfac- 
tory evidence  the  peculiar  nature  of  soda,  which  had 
been  previously  confounded  with  potash.  His  merits 
as  a  vegetable  physiologist  and  agriculturist  were  of  a 
▼ery  high  order. 


THXOET  IS  CH£1|I8TET.  S9S 

Peter  Joseph  Macquer  was  bom  at  PariB,  in  1718. 
HiB  father,  Joseph  Macquer,  was  descended  from  a 
noble  Scottish  family,  which  had  sacrificed  its  property 
and  its  country,  out  of  attachment  to  the  family  of 
the  Stuarts.*  Young  Macquer  made  choice  of  medi- 
cine as  a  profession,  and  devoted  himself  chiefly  to 
chemistry,  for  which  he  showed  early  a  decided  taste. 
He  was  admitted  a  member  of  the  Academy  of 
Sciences  in  the  year  1745,  when  he  was  twenty-seven 
years  of  age.  Original  researches  in  chemistry,  the 
composition  of  chemical  elementary  works,  and  the 
study  of  the  arts  connected  with  chemistry,  occupied 
the  whole  remainder  of  his  life. 

His  first  paper  treated  of  the  effect  produced  by 
heating  a  mixture  of  saltpetre  and  white  arsenic.  It  was 
previously  known,  that  when  such  a  mixture  is  distilled 
nitric  acid  comes  over  tinged  with  a  blue  colour ;  but 
nobody  had  thought  of  examining  the  residue  of  this 
distillation.  Macquer  found  it  soluble  in  water  and 
capable  of  crystallizing  into  a  neutral  salt  composed 
of  potash  (the  base  of  saltpetre),  and  an  acid  into 
which  the  arsenic  was  changed  by  the  nitric  acid  com^ 
municating  oxygen  to  it. 

Macquer  found  that  a  similar  salt  might  be  obtained 
with  soda  or  ammonia  for  its  base.  "jDius  he  was  the 
first  person  who  pointed  out  the  existence  of  arsenic 
acid,  and  ascertained  the  properties  of  some  of  the 
salts  which  it  forms.  But  he  made  no  attempt  to  ob- 
tain arsenic  acid  in  a  separate  state,  or  to  determine  its 
properties.  That  very  important  step  was  reserved 
for  Scheele,  for  Macquer  seems  to  have  had  no  sus- 
picion of  the  true  nature  of  the  salt  which  he  had 
formed. 


*  I  do  not  know  what  the  true  name  was  of  which  Macquer 
is  a  corruption.  Ker  is  a  Scottish  name  belonging  to  two  nobib 
fismilies,  Uie  Duke  of  Roxburgh  and  the  Marquis  of  Lothian  ; 
but  I  am  not  aware  of  M'Ker  being  a  Scottish  name :  besidii, 
neither  of  these  families  was  attached  to  the  house  of  Stuart. 


296  HI8T0&T  OF  CHEinSTaY. 

His  next  set  of  experiments  was  on  Pnissian  blae<^ 
He  made  the  first  step  towards  the  discovery  of  the  ni 
ture  of  the  principle  to  which  that  pigment  owes  it 
colour.  Prussian  blue  had  been  accidentally  dii^ 
covered  by  Diesbach,  an  operative  chemist  of  berlin, 
in  1710,  but  the  mode  of  producing  it  was  kept  secret 
till  it  was  published  in  1724,  by  Dr.  Woodward  in.  the 
Philosophical  Transactions.  It  consisted  in  mixing 
potash  and  blood  together,  and  heating  the  mixture  in 
a  covered  crucible,  having  a  small  hole  in  the  lid,. till 
it  ceased  to  give  out  smoke.  The  solution  of  this  mix- 
ture in  water,  when  mixed  with  a  solution  of  sulphate 
of  iron,  threw  down  a  green  powder,  which  became 
blue  when  treated  with  muriatic  acid  :  this  blue  mat- 
ter was  Prussian  blue.  Macquer  ascertained  that 
when  Prussian  blue  is  exposed  to  a  red  heat  its  blue 
colour  disappears,  and  it  is  converted  into  common 
peroxide  of  iron.  Hence  he  concluded  that  Prussian 
blue  is  a  compound  of  oxide  of  iron,  and  of  some- 
thing which  is  destroyed  or  driven  off  by  a  red  heat 
He  showed  that  this  something  possessed  the  charao* 
ters  of  an  acid ;  for  when  Prussian  blue  is  boiled  with 
caustic  potash  it  loses  its  blue  colour,  and  if  the  potash 
be  boiled  with  successive  portions  of  Prussian  blue, 
as  long  as  it  is  capable  of  discolouring  them,  it  loses 
the  characters  of  an  acid  and  assumes  those  of  a  neu- 
tral salt,  and  at  the  same  time  acquires  the  property 
of  precipitating  iron  from  the  solutions  of  the  sul- 
phate at  once  of  a  blue  colour.  Macquer  ascribed 
the  green  colour  thrown  down,  by  mixing  the  blood- 
lie  and  sulphate  of  iron  to  the  potash  in  the  blood-lie» 
not  being  saturated  with  the  colouring  matter  of  Prus- 
sian blue.  Hence  a  portion  of  the  iron  is  thrown 
down  in  the  state  of  Prussian  blue,  and  another  por- 
,tion  in  that  of  yellow  oxide  of  iron :  these  two  being 
mixed  form  a  green.  The  muriatic  acid  dissolves  thft 
yellow  oxide  and  leaves  the  Prussian  blue  untouched. 
Macquer,  however,  did  not  succeed  in  determining  the 


THBORT  IK  CHEMISTRY.  Hfft 

S^we  of  the  colouring  matter;  a  task  reserved  for 

r^^^iede,  whose  lot  it  was  to  take  up  the  half-finished 

^Vestigations  of  Macquer,  and  throw  upon  them  a 

^^  and  brilliant  light.     Macquer  thought  that  this 

flouring  matter  vfos phlogiston.   On  that  account  the 

^>otash  saturated  with  it,  which  was  employed  by  che- 

^sts  to  detect  the  presence  of  iron  by  forming  with 

it  Prussian  blue,  was  colled phlogisticated  alkali, 

Macquer,  conjointly  with  Baume,  subjected  the 
grains  of  crude  platinum,  to  which  the  attention  of 
chemists  had  been  newly  drawn,  to  experiment.  Their 
principle  object  was  to  examine  its  fusibility  and  duc- 
tility. They  succeeded  in  fusing  it  imperfectly,  by 
means  of  a  burning  mirror,  and  fbund  that  the  grains 
thus  treated  were  not  destitute  of  ductility.  But  upon 
the  whole  the  experiments  of  these  chemists  threw 
but  little  light  upon  the  subject.  Many  years  elapsed 
before  chemists  were  able  to  work  this  refractory  metal, 
and  to  make  it  into  vessels  fitted  for  the  uses  of  the 
laboratory.  For  this  important  improvement,  which 
constitutes  an  era  in  chemistry,  the  chemical  world 
was  chiefly  indebted  to  Dr.  Wollaston. 

In  the  year  1750  M.  Macquer  was  charged  with  a 
commission  by  the  court.  There  existed  at  that  time 
in  Brittany  a  man,  the  Count  de  la  Garaie,  who, 
yielding  to  a  passion  for  benevolence,  had  for  forty 
years  devoted  himself  to  the  service  of  suffering  hu- 
manity. He  had  built  an  hospital  by  the  side  of  a 
chemical  laboratory :  he  took  care  of  the  patients  in 
the  hospital  himself;  and  treated  them  with  medicines 
prepared  in  his  laboratory.  Some  of  these  were  new, 
and,  in  his  opinion,  excellent  medicines ;  and  he 
offered  to  sell  them  to  government  for  the  service  of 
his  hospital.  Macquer  was  charged  by  government 
with  the  examination  of  these  medicines.  The  project 
of  the  Count  de  la  Guraie  was  to  extract  the  salutary 
parts  of  minerals,  by  a  long  maceration  with  neutral 


998  HISTORY  OF  CHEMISTBT. 

saltB.  Among  other  things  he  had  prepared  a  mer^ 
curiiil  tincture,  by  a  process  which  lasted  several 
months :  but  this  tincture  was  merely  a  solution  of 
rorroHivc  sublimate  in  spirit  of  wine.  Such  is  the 
hiMtory  of  most  of  those  boasted  secrets ;  sometimes 
they  are  chimerical,  and  sometimes  known  to  all  the 
world,  excej)t  to  those  who  purchase  them. 

M.  Miicquer  had  the  fortune  to  live  at  a  time  when 
cliemistry  bcf^an  to  be  freed  from  the  reveries  of  al- 
chyniists ;  but  methodical  arrangement  was  a  merit 
still  unknown  to  the  elementary  chemical  books,  es- 
p(;cially  in  France,  where  a  residue  of  Cartesianism 
ttddcid  to  tiic  natural  obscurity  of  the  science,  by  sur- 
chiir^injr  it  with  pretended  mechanical  explanations* 
Mac(jU(;r  was  the  first  French  chemist  who  gave  to  an 
elemcutiiry  treatise  the  same  clearness,  simplicity,  and 
metliod,  which  is  to  be  found  in  the  other  branches  of 
science.     This  was  no  small  merit,  and  undoubtedly 
contributed  considerably  to  the  rapid  improvement  m 
the  science  whicii  so  speedily  followed.    His  elements 
of  chemistry  were  translated  into  different  languages, 
especially  into  English  ;  and  long  constituted  the  text- 
book employed  in  the  different  European  universities. 
Dr.  Black  recommended  it  for  many  years  in  the  Uni- 
versity of  Edinburgh.    Indeed,  it  was  only  superseded 
in  consequence  of  the  new  views  introduced  into  che- 
mistry by  Lavoisier,  which,  requiring  a  new  language 
to  render  them  intelligible,  naturally  superseded  adl 
the  elementary  chemical  books  which  had  preceded 
the  introduction  of  that  language. 

Macquer,  during  a  number  of  years,  delivered  re- 
gular courses  of  chemical  lectures,  conjointly  with 
Baum6.  In  these  courses  he  preferred  that  arrange- 
ment which  appeared  to  him  to  require  the  least  pre- 
liminary knowledge  of  chemistry.  He  described  the 
experiments,  stated  the  facts  with  clearness  and  pre- 
cision^ and  explained  them  in  the  way  which  appeared 


THSORT  IV  CREMXSTRT.  2dd 

^  turn  most  plausible,  according  to  the  opinions  gene*- 
pJly  received ;  but  without  placing  much  confidence 
^  toe  accuracy  of  these  explanations.     He  thought  it 
'Miceasary  to  theonze  a  little,  to  enable  his  pupils  the 
**6tter  to  connect  the  facts  and  to  remember  them; 
^  to  put  an  end  to  that  painful  state  of  uncertainty 
^hich  always  Jesuits  from  a  collection  of  facts  without 
^y  theoretical  links  to  bind  them  together.     When 
the  discoveries  of  Lavoisier  began  to  shake  the  foun- 
dation of  the  Stahlian  theory,  Macquer  was  old  ;  and 
It  appears  from  a  letter  of  his,  published  by  Dela- 
Qketherie  in  the  Journal  de  Physique,  that  he  was 
alarmed  at  the  prophetic  announcements  of  Lavoisier 
in  the  academy  that  the  reign  of  Phlogiston  was 
drawing  towards  an  end.     M.  Condorcet  assures  us 
that  his  attachment  to  theory,  by  which  he  means 
phlogiston,  was  by  no  means  strong  ;*   but  his  own 
letter  to  Delametherie  rather  shows  that  this  state- 
ment was  not  quite  correct.     How,  indeed,  could  he 
&0  to  experience  an  attachment  to  opinions  which  it 
had  been  the  business  of  his  whole  life  to  inculcate  ? 

Macquer  also  published  a  dictionary  of  chemistry, 
which  was  very  successful,  and  which  was  translated 
into  most  of  the  European  languages.  This  mode  of 
treating  chemistry  was  well  suited  to  a  science  still  in 
its  infancy,  and  which  did  not  yet  constitute  a  com- 
plete whole.  It  enabled  him  to  discuss  the  different 
topics  in  succession,  and  independent  of  each  other : 
and  thus  to  introduce  much  important  matter  which 
could  not  easily  have  been  introduced  into  a  systematic 
work  on  chemistry.  The  second  edition  of  this  dic- 
tionary was  published  just  at  the  time  when  the  gases 
began  to  attract  the  attention  of  scientific  men ;  when 
facts  began  to  multiply  with  prodigious  rapidity,  and  to 
shake  the  confidence  of  chemists  in  all  received  theo- 
ries.    He  acquitted  himself  of  the  difficult  task  of 

•  Hilt,  de  TAcad.  R.  des  Sciences,  1784,  p.  24. 


300  HISTOET  OF  CHEMISTRY. 

collecting  and  stating  these  new  facts  with  consider- 
able success ;  and  doubtless  communicated  much  new 
information  to  his  countrymen :  for  the  discoyeries 
connected  with  the  gases  originated,  and  were  chiefly 
made,  in  England,  from  which,  on  accoimt  of  the  re- 
volutionary American  war,  there  was  some  difficulty 
of  obtaining  early  information. 

M.  Hellot,  who  was  commissioner  of  the  counsel 
for  dyeing,  and  chemist  to  the  porcelain  manufacture, 
requested  to  have  M.  Macquer  for  an  associate.  This 
request  did  much  honour  to  Hellot,  as  he  was  conscious 
that  the  reputation  of  Macquer  as  a  chemist  was  su- 
perior to  his  own.  Macquer  endeavoured,  in  the  first 
place,  to  lay  down  the  true  principles  of  the  art  of 
dyeing,  as  the  best  method  of  dissipating  the  obscurity 
which  still  hung  over  it.  A  great  part  of  his  treatise 
on  the  art  of  dyeing  silk,  published  in  the  collection 
of  the  Academy  of  Sciences,  has  these  principles  for 
its  object.  He  gave  processes  also  for  dyeing  silk 
with  Prussian  blue,  and  for  giving  to  silk,  by  means 
of  cochineal,  as  brilliant  a  scarlet  colour  as  can  be 
given  to  woollen  cloth  by  the  same  dye-stuff.  He 
published  nothing  on  the  porcelain  manufacture, 
though  he  attended  particularly  to  the  processes,  and 
introduced  several  ameliorations.  The  beautiful  por» 
celain  earth  at  present  used  at  Sevre,  was  discovered  in 
consequence  of  a  premium  which  he  offered  to  any 
person  who  could  point  out  a  clay  in  every  respect 
proper  for  making  porcelain. 

Macquer  passed  a  great  part  of  his  life  with  a  bro- 
ther, whom  he  affectionately  loved :  after  his  death 
he  devoted  himself  entirely  to  his  wife  and  two  chil- 
dren, whose  education  he  superintended.  He  was 
rather  averse  to  society,  but  conducted  himself  whilft 
in  it  with  much  sweetness  and  affability.  He  was 
fond  of  tranquillity  and  independence.  Though  hit 
health  had  been  injured  a  good  many  years  before  hit 
deathy  the  calmness  and  serenity  of  his  temper  pr^ 


THEO&Y   Iir  CHEMlStRI^.  30l 

vented  strangers  from  being  aware  that  he  was  afflicted 
with  any  malady.  He  himself  was  sensible  that  his 
strength  was  giadually  sinking ;  he  predicted  his  ap- 
proaching end  to  his  wife,  whom  he  thanked  for  the 
happiness  which  she  had  spread  over  his  life.  He  left 
orders  that  his  body  should  be  opened  after  his  de- 
cease, that  the  cause  of  his  death  might  be  discovered. 
He  died  on  the  15th  of  February,  1784.  An  ossifi- 
cation of  the  aorta,  and  several  calculous  concretions 
found  in  the  cavities  of  the  heart,  had  been  the  cause 
of  the  disease  under  which  he  had  suffered  for  several 
years  before  his  death. 

These  four  chemists,  of  whose  lives  a  sketch  has 
just  been  given,  were  the  most  eminent  that  France 
ever  produced  belonging  to  the  Stahlian  school  of  che- 
mistry. Baron,  Malouin,  Rouelle  senior,  Tillet, 
Cadet,  Baume,  Sage,  and  several  others  whose  names 
I  purposely  omit,  likewise  cultivated  chemistry,  during 
that  period,  with  assiduity  and  success ;  and  were  each 
of  them  the  authors  of  papers  which  deserve  attention, 
but  which  it  would  be  impossible  to  particularize 
without  swelling  this  work  into  a  size  greatly  beyond 
its  proper  limits. 

Hilaire-Marin  Rouelle,  who  was  born  at  Caen  in 
1718,  was,  however,  too  eminent  a  chemist  to  be 
passed  over  in  silence.  His  elder  brother,  William 
Francis,  was  a  member  of  the  Academy  of  Sciences, 
and  demonstrator  to  Macquer,  who  gave  lectures  in  the 
Jardin  du  Roi.  At  the  death  of  Macquer,  in  1770, 
Hilaire-Marin  Rouelle  succeeded  him.  He  devoted  the 
whole  of  his  time  and  money  to  this  situation,  and  quite 
altered  the  nature  of  the  experimental  course  of  che- 
mistry given  in  the  Jardin  du  Roi.  He  was  in  some 
measure  the  author  of  the  chemistry  of  animal  bodies, 
at  least  in  France.  When  he  published  his  experi- 
ments on  the  salts  of  urine,  and  of  blood,  he  had 
scarcely  any  model ;  and  though  he  committed  some 
considerable  mistakesi  he  ascertained  several  e&^ikXv^ 


302  BItTOAT  OF  CHEMISTRY* 

and  important  facts,  which  have  been  since  fully  con* 
firmed  by  more  modern  experimenters.  He  died  on  the 
7th  of  April,  1779,  aged  ^sixty-one  years.  His  temper 
was  peculiar,  and  he  was  too  honest  and  too  open  for 
the  situation  in  which  he  was  placed,  and  for  a  state 
of  society  in  which  every  thing  was  carried  by  intrigue 
and  finesse.  This  is  the  reason  why,  in  France,  his 
reputation  was  lower  than  it  ought  to  have  been.  It 
accounts,  too,  for  his  never  becoming  a  member  of  the 
Academy  of  Sciences,  nor  of  any  of  the  other  nume^ 
rous  academies  which  at  that  time  swarmed  in  France* 
Nothing  is  more  common  than  to  find  these  unjust 
decisions  raise  or  depress  men  of  science  far  above 
or  far  below  their  true  standard.  Rome  de  Lisle,  the 
first  person  who  commenced  the  study  of  crystals,  anil 
placed  that  study  in  a  proper  point  of  view,  was  a  mail 
of  the  same  stamp  with  the  younger  Rouelle,  anS 
never  on  that  account,  became  a  member  of  any  aca« 
demy,  or  acquired  that  reputation  during  his  lifetime/ 
to  which  his  laborious  career  justly  entitled  him.  II 
would  be  an  easy,  though  an  invidious  task,  to  poiill 
out  vai'ious  individuals,  especially  in  France,  whoiif. 
reputation,  in  consequence  of  accidental  and  adventitf 
tious  circumstances,  rose  just  as  much  above  their 
deserts,  as  those  of  Rouelle,  and  Rome  de  Lisle  wefi 
sunk  below. 


•  1 


If* 


CHEMISTRY   IN   QBEAT   BRITAIN.  903 


CHAPTER    IX. 


OV  TRB  POTTNDATION  AND   PROGRESS   OV  SCIENTIFIC 
CHEMISTRY  IN  GREAT  BRITAIN. 

The  spirit  which  Newton  had  infused  for  the  ma- 
lematical  science  was  so  great,  that  during  many  year* 
ley  drew  within  their  vortex  almost  all  the  scientific 
en  in  Great  Britain.  Dr.  Stephen  Hales  is  almost  tha 
ily  remarkable  exception,  during  the  early  part  of  the 
^hteenth  century.  His  vegetable  statics  constituted 
most  ingenious  and  valuable  contribution  to  vegeta- 
e  physiology.  His  haemastatics  was  a  no  less  valu-* 
»le  contribution  to  iatro-mathematics,  at  that  time 
e  fashionable  medical  theory  in  Great  Britain.  While 
s  analysis  of  air,  and  experiments  on  the  animal 
Iculus  constituted,  in  all  probability,  the  foundation- 
3ne  of  the  whole  discoveries  respecting  the  gases  to 
lich  the  great  subsequent  progress  of  chemistry  ia 
iefly  owing. 

Dr.  William  Cullen,  to  whom  medicine  lies  under 
ep  obligations,  and  who ,  afterwards  raised  the 
Bdical  celebrity  of  the  College  of  Edinburgh  to  so 
^h  a  pitch,  had  the  merit  of  first  perceiving  the 
portance  of  scientific  chemistry,  and  the  reputa* 
n  which  that  man  was  likely  to  earn,  who  shouM 
vote  himself  to  the  cultivation  of  it.  Hitherto  che-» 
stry  in  Great  Britain,  and  on  the  continent  also, 
s  considered  as  a  mere  appendage  to  medicine,  and 

ul  only  so  far  as  it  contributed  to  the  formation  of 


304  ttlSTORY  OF  CHEMISniY. 

new  and  useful  remedies.  This  was  the  reason  why  it 
came  to  constitute  an  essential  part  of  the  education 
of  every  medical  man,  and  why  a  physician  was  con- 
sidered as  unfit  for  practice  unless  he  was  also  a 
chemist.  But  Dr.  Cullen  viewed  the  science  as  far 
more  important ;  as  capable  of  throwing  light  on  the 
constitution  of  bodies,  and  of  improving  and  amending 
of  those  arts  and  manufactures  |that  are  most,  usefal 
to  man.  He  resolved  to  devote  himself  to  its  cultiva- 
tion and  improvement;  and  he  would  undoubtedly 
have  derived  celebrity  from  this  science,  had  not  his 
fate  led  rather  to  the  cultivation  of  medicine.  But 
Dr.  Cullen,  as  the  true  commencer  of  the  study  of 
scientific  chemistry  in  Great  Britain,  claims  a  conspi- 
cuous place  in  this  historical  sketch. 

William  Cullen  was  bom  in  Lanarkshire,  in  Scot- 
land, in  the  year  1712,  on  the  11th  of  December.  His 
father,  though  chief  magistrate  of  Hamilton,  was  not 
in  circumstances  to  lay  out  much  money  on  his  son. 
William,  therefore,  after  serving  an  apprenticeship  to 
a  surgeon  in  Glasgow,  went  several  voyages  to  the 
West  Indies,  as  surgeon,  in  a  trading-vessel  from 
London;  but  tiring  of  this,  he  settled,  when  very 
young,  in  the  parish  of  Shotts ;  and  after  residing 
for  a  short  time  among  the  farmers  and  country  people, 
he  went  to  Hamilton,  with  a  view  of  practising  as  a 
physician. 

While  he  resided  near  Shotts,  it  happened  that 
Archibald,  Duke  of  Argyle,  who  at  that  time  bore  the 
chief  political  sway  in  Scotland,  paid  a  visit  to  a 
gentleman  of  rank  in  that  neighbourhood.  The  duke 
was  fond  of  science,  and  was  at  that  time  engaged  in 
some  chemical  researches  which  required  to  be  eluci- 
dated by  experiment.  Eager  in  these  pursuits,  while 
on  his  visit  he  found  himself  at  a  loss  for  some  piece 
of  chemical  apparatus  which  his  landlord  could  not 
furnish ;  but  he  mentioned  young  Cullen  to  the  duke 
as  a  person  fond  of  chemistry,  and  likely  therefore  to 


i 


CHEMISTRY  IN  GREAT  BRITAIN.  305 

poBSess  the  required  apparatus.  He  was  accordingly 
invited  to  dine,  and  introduced  to  his  Grace,  llie 
duke  was  so  pleased  with  his  knowledge,  politeness, 
and  address,  that  an  acquaintance  commenced,  which 
laid  the  foundation  of  all  Cullen*s  future  advancement. 

His  residence  in  Hamilton  naturally  made  his  name 
known  to  the  Duke  of  Hamilton,  whose  palace  is 
situated  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  that  town.  His 
Grace  being  taken  with  a  sudden  illness,  sent  for 
Cullen,  and  was  highly  delighted  with  the  sprightly 
character,  and  ingenious  conversation  of  the  young 
physician.  He  found  no  difficulty,  especially  as  young 
OuUen  was  already  known  to  the  Duke  of  Argyle,  in 
getting  him  appointed  to  a  place  in  the  University  of 
Glasgow,  where  his  singular  talents  as  a  teacher  soon 
became  very  conspicuous. 

It  was  while  Dr.  CuUen  was  a  practitioner  in  Shotts 
that  he  formed  a  connexion  with  William,  afterwards 
Doctor  Hunter,  the  famous  lecturer  on  anatomy  in 
London,  who  was  a  native  of  the  same  part  of  the 
country  as  CuUen.  These  two  young  men,  stimulated 
by  genius,  though  thwarted  by  the  narrowness  of  their 
circumstances,  entered  into  a  copartnery  business,  as 
surgeons  and  apothecaries,  in  the  country.  The  chief 
object  of  their  contract  was  to  furnish  the  parties  with 
the  means  of  carrying  on  their  medical  studies,  which 
they  were  not  able  to  do  separately.  It  was  stipulated 
that  one  of  them,  alternately,  should  be  allowed  to  study 
in  whatever  college  he  preferred,  during  the  winter, 
while  the  other  carried  on  the  common  business  in  his 
absence.  In  consequence  of  this  agreement,  Cullen 
was  first  allowed  to  study  in  the  University  of  Edin- 
burgh, for  a  winter.  When  it  came  to  Hunter's  turn 
next  winter,  he  rather  chose  to  go  to  London.  There 
his  singular  neatness  in  dissecting,  and  uncommon 
dexterity  in  making  anatomical  preparations,  his  assi- 
duity in  study,  his  mild  manners,  and  easy  temper, 
drew  upon  him  the  attention  of  Dr.  Douglas,  who  at 

VOL.  I.  X 


tikat  tine  xesd  lectures  <m.  murtiMini  aaj  ■udvifiajiB 
tike  cj-jaral.  He  ezunte<Bd  itiro  ss  te  *«a«!>^»*g^  aad 
be  siftenrEids  Facceakid  kmi  in  tlie  subc  deputment 
vitii  imx^  baEkour  lo  lanwifjf,.  sod  adwolaige  to  the 
poLoc  T^ns  VKS  diaBokvd  a  oopinaaship  of  pa-- 
faa^s  u  fiiazulax  a  kkkd  as  any  that  oocms  in  the 
azuuilf  of  sckfice.  Culkn  was  doi,  dispoeed  to  let  any 
e&?a^^eiD£iit  vith  him  prove  a  Inr  id  his  partner's 
adrazkceiDjeot  in  the  worid.  Hie  ardcies  voe  aban- 
doned, and  Cullen  and  Himter  kept  up  ever  after  a 
Iriendly  oorrespcMidence ;  though  thete  is  reason  to 
believe  that  thev  nerer  afterwards  met. 

It  was  while  a  country  pracdtKmer  that  young  Col* 
len  married  a  Miss  Johnston,  daoghter  of  a  noghbonr- 
in^  clergyman.  The  connexion  was  fortunate  and  last- 
ing. She  brought  her  husband  a  numerous  family,  and 
continued  his  faithful  companion  through  all  the  altera- 
tions of  his  fortune.  She  died  in  the  summer  of  1786. 

In  the  vear  1746  Cullen,  who  had  now  taken  the  de- 
gree  of  doctor  of  medicine,  was  appointed  lecturer  on 
chemistry  in  the  University  of  Glasgow ;  and  in  the 
month  of  October  began  a  course  on  that  science. 
His  singular  talent  for  arrangement,  his  distinctness 
of  enunciation,  his  \nvacity  of  manner,  and  his  know- 
ledge qf  the  science  which  he  taught,  rendered  his 
lectures  interesting  to  a  degree  which  had  been  till 
then  unknown  in  that  university :  he  was  adcnred 
by  the  students.  The  former  professors  were  eclipsed 
by  tlie  brilliancy  of  his  reputation,  and  he  had  to 
encounter  all  those  little  rubs  and  insults  that  dis- 
appointed envy  naturally  threw  in  his  way.  But  he 
proceeded  in  his  career  regardless  of  these  petty  mor- 
tifications; and  supported  by  the  public,  he  was  more 
than  (consoled  for  the  contumely  heaped  upon  him  by 
the  illnature  and  pitiful  malignity  of  his  colleagues. 
I  lis  practice  as  a  physician  increased  every  day,  and  a 
vacancy  occurring  in  the  chair  in  1751,  he  was  ap- 
pointed by  the  crown  professor  of  medicine,  which  put 


\ 


CHEMISTRY  VX  GREAT  BRITAIN.  307 

him  on  a  footing  of  equality  with  his  colleagues  in  the 
university*  This  new  appointment  called  forth  powers 
which  he  was  not  before  known  to  possess,  and  thus 
lenred  still  further-to  increase  his  reputation. 

At  that  time  the  patrons  of  the  University  of  Edin* 
bui^h  were  eagerly  bent  on  raising  the  reputation  of 
their  medical  school,  and  were  in  consequence  on  the 
look  out  for  men  of  abilities  and  reputation  to  fill  their 
respective  chairs.  Their  attention  was  soon  drawn 
towards  Cullen,  and  on  the  death  of  Dr.  Plummer,  in 
1756,  he  was  unanimously  invited  to  fill  the  vacant 
chemical  chair.  He  accepted  the  invitation,  and  be- 
gan his  academical  career  in  the  College  of  Edinburgh 
in  October  of  that  year,  and  here  he  continued  during 
the  remainder  of  his  life. 

The  appearance  of  Dr.  Cullen  in  the  College  of 
Edinburgh  constitutes  a  memorable  era  in  the  progress 
of  that  celebrated  school.  Hitherto  chemistry  being 
reckoned  of  little  importance,  had  been  attended  by 
very  few  students ;  when  Cullen  began  to  lecture  it 
became  a  favourite  study,  almost  all  the  students 
flocking  to  hear  him,  and  the  chemical  class  becoming 
immediately  more  numerous  than  any  other  in  the 
college,  anatomy  alone  excepted.  The  students  in 
general  spoke  of  the  new  professor  with  that  rapturous 
ardour  so  natural  to  young  men  when  highly  pleased. 
These  eulogiums  were  doubtless  extravagant,  and 
proved  disgusting  to  his  colleagues.  A  party  was 
formed  to  oppose  this  new  favourite  of  the  public. 
His  opinions  were  misrepresented,  it  was  affirmed 
that  he  taught  doctrines  which  excited  the  alarm 
of  some  of  the  most  moderate  and  conscientious 
of  his  colleagues.  Thus  a  violent  ferment  was  ex- 
cited, and  some  time  elapsed  before  the  malignant 
arts  by  which  this  flame  had  been  blown,  up  were  dis- 
covered. 

During  this  time  of  public  ferment  Cullen  went 
Steadily  forward ;  he  never  gave  an  ear  to  the  gossip 

x2 


308  HISTORY  OP  CHEMISTRY.       ' 

brought  him  respecting  the  conduct  of  his  colleagues, 
nor  did  he  take  any  notice  of  the  doctrines  which  they 
taught.  Some  of  their  unguarded  strictures  on  him- 
self might  occasionally  have  come  to  his  ears;  but  if 
it  was  so,  he  took  no  notice  of  them  whatever;  they 
seemed  to  have  made  no  impression  on  him. 

This  futile  attempt  to  lower  his  character  being  thus 
baffled,  his  fame  as  a  professor,  and  his  reputation  as 
a  physician,  increased  daily  :  nor  could  it  be  other- 
wise ;  his  professional  knowledge  was  always  great, 
and  his  manner  of  lecturing  singularly  clear  and  in- 
telligible, lively,  and  entertaining.  To  his  patients  his 
conduct  was  so  pleasing,  his  address  so  affable  and 
engaging,  and  his  manner  so  open,  so  kind,  and  so 
little  regulated  by  pecuniary  considerations,  that  those 
who  once  applied  to  him  for  medical  assistance  could 
never  afterwards  dispense  with  it:  he  became  the  friend 
and  companion  of  every  family  he  visited,  and  his  fu- 
ture acquaintance  could  not  be  dispensed  with. 

His  private  conduct  to  his  students  was  admirable, 
and  deservedly  endeared  him  to  every  one  of  them. 
He  was  so  uniformly  attentive  to  them,  and  took  so 
much  interest  in  the  concerns  of  those  who  applied 
to  him  for  advice ;  was  so  cordial  and  so  warm, 
that  it  was  impossible  for  any  one,  who  had  a  heart 
susceptible  of  generous  emotions,  not  to  be  delighted 
with  a  conduct  so  uncommon  and  so  kind.  It  was 
this  which  served  more  than  any  thing  else  to  extend 
his  reputation  over  every  civilized  quarter  of  the  globe. 
Among  ingenuous  youth  gratitude  easily  degenerates 
into  rapture ;  hence  the  popularity  which  he  enjoyed, 
and  which  to  those  who  do  not  well  weigh  the  causes 
which  operated  on  the  students  must  appear  excessive. 

The  general  conduct  of  Cullen  to  his  students  was 
this:  with  all  such  as  he  observed  to  be  attentive 
and  diligent  he  formed  an  early  acquaintance,  by  in- 
viting them  by  twos,  by  threes,  and  by  fours  at  a  time 
to  sup  with  him;  conversing  with  them  at  such  timQS-  • 


CHEMISTRY   IN   GREAT   BRITAIN.  309 

with  the  most  engaging  ease,  entering  freely  with  them 
into  the  subject  of  their  studies,  their  amusements, 
their  difficulties,  their  hopes  and  future  prospects.  In 
this  way  he  usually  invited  the  whole  of  his  numerous 
class  till  he  made  himself  acquainted  with  their  pri- 
vate character,  their  abilities,  and  their  objects  of  pur- 
suit. Those  of  whom  he  formed  the  highest  opinion 
were  of  course  invited  most  frequently,  till  an  intunacy 
was  gradually  formed  which  proved  highly  beneficisd 
to  them.  To  their  doubts  and  difficulties  he  listened 
with  the  most  obliging  condescension,  and  he  solved 
them  to  the  utmost  of  his  power.  His  library  was  at 
all  times  open  for  their  accommodation :  in  short,  he 
treated  them  as  if  they  had  been  all  his  (relatives  and 
friends.  Few  men  of  distinction  left  the  University  of 
Edinburgh,  in  his  time,  with  whom  he  did  not  keep  up 
a  correspondence  till  they  were  fairly  established  in 
business.  This  enabled  him  gradually  to  form  an  ac- 
curate knowledge  of  the  state  of  medicine  in  every 
country,  and  the  knowledge  thus  acquired  put  it  in 
his  power  to  direct  students  in  the  choice  of  places 
where  they  might  have  an  opportunity  of  engaging  in 
business  with  a  reasonable  prospect  of  success. 

Nor  was  it  in  this  way  alone  that  he  befriended  the 
students  in  the  University  of  Edinburgh.  Remembering 
the  difficulties  with  which  he  had  himself  to  struggle 
in  his  younger  days,  he  was  at  all  times  singularly 
attentive  to  the  pecuniary  wants  of  the  students.  From 
the  general  intimacy  which  he  contracted  with  them  he 
found  no  difficulty  in  discovering  those  whose  circum- 
stances were  contracted,  or  who  laboured  under  any 
pecuniary  embarrassment,  without  being  under  the 
necessity  of  hurting  their  feelings  by  a  direct  inquiry. 
To  such  persons,  when  their  habits  of  study  admitted 
it,  he  was  peculiarly  attentive :  they  were  more  fre- 
quently invited  to  his  house  than  others,  they  were 
treated  with  unusual  kindness  and  familiarity,  they 
were  conducted  to  his  library  and  encouraged  by  the 


310  HISTORY  OF  CHEMISTRY. 

most  delicate  address  to  borrow  from  it  freely  whatever 
books  he  thought  they  had  occasion  for;  and  as  persons 
under  such  circumstances  are  often  extremely  shy, 
books  were  sometimes  pressed  upon  them  as  a  sort 
of  task,  the  doctor  insisting  upon  knowing  their  opinion 
of  such  and  such  passages  which  they  had  not  read, 
and  desiring  them  to  carry  the  book  home  for  that  pur- 
pose :  in  short,  he  behaved  to  them  as  if  he  had  courted 
their  company.     He  thus  raised  them  in  the  opinion 
of  their  acquaintances,  which,  to  persons  in  their  cir- 
cumstances, was  of  no  little  consequence.     They  were 
inspired  at  the  same  time  with  a  secret  sense  of  dignity, 
which  elevated  their  minds,  and  excited  an  uncommon 
ardour,  instead  of  that  desponding  inactivity  so  natural 
to  depressed  circumstances.     Nor  was  he  less  delicate 
in  the  manner  of  supplying  their  wants :  he  often 
found  out  some  polite  excuse  for  refusing  to  take 
money  for  a  first  course,  and  never  was  at  a  loss  for 
one  to  an  after  course.     Sometimes  (as  his  lectures 
were  never  written)  he  would  request  the  favour  of  a 
sight  of  their  notes,  if  he  knew  that  they  were  taken 
with  care,  in  order  to  refresh  his  memory.     Sometimes 
he  would  express  a  wish  to  have  their  opinion  of  a  parti- 
cular part  of  his  course,  and  presented  them  with  a  ticket 
for  the  purpose.     By  such  delicate  pieces  of  address, 
in  which  he  greatly  excelled,  he  took  care  to  anticipate 
their  wants.    Thus  he  not  only  gave  them  the  benefit 
of  his  own  lectures,  but  by  refusing  to  take  money 
enabled  them  to  attend  such  others  as  were  necessary 
for  completing  their  course  of  medical  study. 

He  introduced  another  general  rule  into  the  uni- 
versity dictated  by  the  same  spirit  of  disinterested  be- 
nevolence. Before  he  came  to  Edinburgh,  it  was  the 
custom  of  the  medical  professors  to  accept  of  fees  for 
their  medical  attendance  when  wanted,  even  from 
medical  students  themselves,  though  they  were  per- 
haps attending  the  professor's  lectures  at  the  time. 
But  Dr.  Cullen  never  would  take  a  fee  from  any  sta- 


CHEMISTRY  IK   GREAT   BRITAIN.  311 

dent  of  the  uniyersity,  though  he  attended  them,  when 
(^led  on  as  a  physician,  with  the  same  assiduity  and 
care  as  if  they  had  been  persons  of  the  first  rank  who 
paid  him  most  liberally.  This  gradually  led  others  to 
follow  his  example ;  and  it  has  now  become  a  general 
rule  for  medical  professors  to  decline  taking  any  fees 
when  their  assistance  is  necessary  to  a  student.  For 
this  useful  reform,  as  well  as  for  many  others,  the  stu- 
dents in  the  University  of  Edinburgh  are  entirely  in- 
debted'to  Dr.  CuUen. 

The  first  lectures  which  Dr.  CuUen  delivered  in 
Edinburgh  were  on  chemistry  ;  and  for  many  years  he 
also  gave  lectures  on  the  cases  that  occurred  in  the 
infirmary.  In  the  month  of  February,  1763,  Dr.  Alston 
died,  after  having  begun  his  usual  course  of  lectures 
on  the  materia  medica.  The  magistrates  of  Edin- 
burgh, who  are  the  patrons  of  the  university,  appoint- 
ed Dr.  Cullen  to  that  chair,  requesting  that  he  would 
finish  the  course  of  lectures  that  had  been  begun  by 
his  predecessor.  This  he  agreed  to  do,  and,  though  he 
had  only  a  few  days  to  prepare  himself,  he  never  once 
thought  of  reading  the  lectures  of  his  predecessor,  but 
resolved  to  deliver  a  new  course,  which  should  be  en- 
tirely his  own.  Some  idea  maybe  formed  of  the  popu- 
larity of  Cullen,  by  the  increase  of  students  to  a  class 
nearly  half  finished  :  Dr.  Alston  had  been  lecturing 
to  ten ;  as  soon  as  Dr.  Cullen  began,  a  hundred  new 
students  enrolled  themselves. 

Some  years  after,  on  the  death  of  Dr.  Whytt,  pro- 
fessor of  the  theory  of  medicine.  Dr.  Cullen  was  ap- 
pointed to  give  lectures  in  his  stead.  It  was  then  that 
he  thought  it  requisite  to  resign  the  chemical  chair  in 
favour  of  Dr.  Black,  his  former  pupil,  whose  talents 
in  that  department  of  science  were  well  known.  Soon 
after,  on  tiie  death  of  Dr.  Rutherford,  professor  of  the 
practice  of  medicine.  Dr.  John  Gregory  having  be- 
come a  candidate  for  this  place,  along  with  Dr.  Cui- 
len^  a  sort  of  compromise  took  place  between  them^  by 


312  HISTORY  OF  CHEMISTRY. 

which  they  agreed  to  give  lectures  alternately,  on  the 
theory  and  practice  of  medicine,  during  their  joint 
lives,  the  longest  survivor  being  allowed  to  hold  either 
of  the  classes  he  should  incline.  Unluckily  this  ar- 
rangement was  soon  destroyed,  by  the  sudden  and 
unexpected  death  of  Dr.  Gregory,  in  the  flower  of  his 
age.  Dr.  Cullen  thenceforth  continued  to  give  lec- 
tures on  the  practice  of  medicine  till  within  a  few 
months  of  his  death,  which  happened  on  the  5th  of 
February,  1790,  when  he  was  in  the  seventy-seventh 
year  of  his  age. 

It  is  not  our  business  to  follow  Dr.  Cullen's  medical 
career,  nor  to  point  out  the  great  benefits  which  he 
conferred  on  nosology  and  the  practice  of  medicine. 
He  taught  four  different  classes  in  the  University  of 
Edinburgh,  which  we  are  not  aware  to  have  happened 
to  any  other  individual,  except  to  professor  Dugald 
Stewart. 

Notwithstanding  the  important  impulse  which  he 
gave  to  chemistry,  he  published  nothing  upon  that 
cience,  except  a  short  paper  on  the  cold  produced  by 
.he  evaporation  of  ether,  which  made  its  appearance 
'n  one  of  the  volumes  of  the  Edinburgh  Physical  and 
Literary  Essays.      Dr.  Cullen  employed  Dr.  Dobson 
of  Liverpool,  at  that  time  his  pupil,  to  make  experi- 
ments on   the  heat   and  cold  produced  by  mixing 
liquids  and  solids  with  each  other.     Dr.  Dobson,  in 
making  these  experiments,  observed  that  the  ther- 
mometer, when  lifted  out  of  many  of  the  liquids,  and 
suspended  a  short  time  in  the  air  beside  them,  fell  to  a  . 
lower  degree  than  indicated  by  another  thermometer 
which  had  undergone  no  such  process.     After  vary-  -. 
ing  his  observations  on  this  phenomenon,  he  found  i 
reason  to  conclude  that  it  was  occasioned  by  the  evati'. 
Deration  of  the  last  drop  of  liquid  which  adhered  totiiii-. 
bulb  of  the  thermometer ;  the  sinking  of  the  thermome*; 
ter  being  always  greatest  when  this  instrument  wftT 
taken  but  of  the  most  volatile  liquids.  Dr.  Cullen  haft 


CHEMISTRY   IN   GREAT  BRITAIN.  313 

^  curiosity  to  try  whether  the  same  phenomenon 
^^^Id  appear  on  repeating  these  experiments  under 
r?^  exhausted  receiver  of  an  air-pump.      To  satisfy 
^Jnself,  he  put  on  the  plate  of  the  air-pump  a  glass 
SX)blet  containing  water;  and  in  the  goblet  he  placed  a 
^ide-mouthed  phial  containing  sulphuric  ether.     The 
^^ole  was  covered  with  an  air-pump  receiver,  having 
^t  the  upper  end  a  collar  of  leathers  in  a  brass  socket, 
through  which  a  thick  smooth  wire  could  be  moved ; 
5^nd  from  the  lower  end  of  this  wire,  projecting  into 
the   receiver,  was  suspended    a    thermometer.      By 
pushing  down  the  wire,  the  thermometer  could  be  dip- 
ped into  the  ether ;  by  drawing  it  up  it  could  be  taken 
«ut,  and  suspended  over  the  phial. 

The  apparatus  being  thus  adjusted,  the  air-pump 
was  worked  to  extract  the  air.  An  unexpected  phe- 
nomenon immediately  appeared,  which  prevented  the 
experiment  from  being  made  in  the  way  intended. 
The  ether  was  thrown  into  a  violent  agitation,  which 
Dr.  Cullen  ascribed  to  the  extrication  of  a  great 
quantity  of  air:  in  reality,  however,  it  was  boiling 
violently.  What  was  still  more  remarkable,  the  ether, 
by  this  boiling  or  rapid  evaporation,  became  all  of  a 
sudden  so  cold,  as  to  freeze  the  water  in  the  goblet 
around  it ;  though  the  temperature  of  the  air  and  of  all 
the  materials  were  at  the  fifty-fourth  degree  of  Fahren- 
heit at  the  beginning  of  the  experiment. 

I  have  been  particular  in  giving  an  account  of  this 
curious  phenomenon,  as  it  was  the  only  direct  contri- 
bution to  the  science  of  chemistry  which  Dr.  Cullen 
communicated  to  the  public.  The  nature  of  the  phe- 
nomenon was  afterwards  explained  by  Dr.  Black  ;  in 
addition  to  Dr.  Cullen,  a  philosopher,  whom  the  grand 
stimulus  which  his  lectures  gave  to  the  cultivation  of 
scientific  chemistry  in  this  country,  had  the  important 
merit  of  bringing  forward. 

Joseph  Black  was  born  in  France,  on  the  banks  of 
the  Garonne^  in  the  year  1728 :  his  father^  Mr.  John 


314  HISTORY  OF  CHEMISTRY. 

Black,  was  a  native  of  Belfast,  but  of  a  Scottish  family 
which  had  been  for  some  time  settled  there.  Mr.  Black 
resided  for  the  most  part  at  Bordeaux,  where  he  was 
engaged  in  the  wine  trade.  He  married  a  daughter  of 
Mr.  Robert  Gordon,  of  the  family  of  Hilhead,  in  Aber- 
deenshire, who  was  also  engaged  in  the  same  trade  at 
Bordeaux.  Mr.  Black  was  a  gentleman  of  most 
amiable  manners,  candid  and  liberal  in  his  sentiments, 
and  of  no  common  information.  These  qualities,  to- 
gether with  the  warmth  of  his  heart,  appear  very  con- 
spicuous in  a  series  of  letters  to  his  son,  which  that 
son  preserved  with  the  nicest  care.  His  good  qualities 
did  not  escape  the  discerning  eye  of  the  great  Montes- 
quieu, one  of  the  presidents  of  the  court  of  justice  in 
that  province.  This  illustrious  and  excellent  man 
honoured  Mr.  Black  with  a  friendship  and  intimacy 
altogether  rare ;  of  which  his  descendants  were  justly 
proud. 

Long  before  Mr.  Black  retired  from  business,  his 
son  Joseph  was  sent  home  to  Belfast,  that  he  might 
have  the  education  of  a  British  subject.  This  was  in 
the  year  1740,  when  he  was  twelve  years  of  age.  After 
the  ordinary  instruction  at  the  grammar-school,  he  was 
sent,  in  1746,  to  continue  his  education  in  the  Uni- 
versity of  Glasgow.  Here  he  studied  with  much  assi- 
duity and  success  :  physical  science,  however,  chiefly 
engrossed  his  attention.  He  was  a  favourite  pupil  <H 
Dr.  Robert  Dick,  professor  of  natural  philosophy,  and 
the  intimate  companion  of  his  son  and  successor.  This 
young  professor  was  of  a  character  peculiarly  suited  to 
Dr.  Black's  taste,  having  the  clearest  conception,  and 
soundest  judgment,  accompanied  by  a  modesty  that 
was  very  uncommon.  When  he  succeeded  his  fatlier,  in 
1751 ,  he  became  the  delight  of  the  students.  He  wai 
carried  off  by  a  fever  in  1757. 

Young  Black  being  required  by  his  father  to  makt 
choice  of  a  profession,  he  preferred  that  of  medicine 
as  the  most  suitable  to  the  general  habits  of  his  stodieili 


CHEItflSTRY   IN   GREAT   BRITAIN.  315 

Fortunately  Dr.  Cullen  had  just  begun  his  great 
career  in  the  College  of  Glasgow,  and  having  made 
choice  of  the  field  of  philosophical  chemistry  which 
lay  as  yet  unoccupied  before  him.  Hitherto  chemistry 
had  been  treated  as  a  curious  and  useful  art ;  but  Cul- 
len saw  in  it  a  vast  department  of  the  science  of  nature, 
depending  on  principles  as  immutable  as  the  laws  of 
mechanism,  and  capable  of  being  formed  into  a  system 
as  comprehensive  and  as  complete  as  astronomy  itself. 
He  conceived  the  resolution  of  attempting  himself  to 
explore  this  magnificent  field,  and  expected  much  re- 
putation from  accomplishing  his  object.  Nor  was  he 
altogether  disappointed.  He  quickly  took  the  science 
out  of  the  hands  of  artists,  and  exhibited  it  as  a  study 
fit  for  a  gentleman.  Dr.  Black  attended  his  chemical 
lectures,  and,  from  the  character  which  has  already 
been  given  of  him,  it  is  needless  to  say  that  he  soon 
discovered  the  uncommon  value  of  his  pupil,  and  at- 
tached him  to  himself,  rather  as  a  co-operator  and  a 
friend,  than  a  pupil.  He  was  considered  as  his  assist- 
ant in  all  his  operations,  and  his  experiments  were  fre- 
quently adduced  in  the  lecture  as  good  authority. 

Young  Black  laid  down  a  very  comprehensive  and 
serious  plan  of  study.  This  appears  from  a  number 
of  note-books  found  among  his  papers.  There  are 
some  in  which  he  seems  to  have  inserted  every  thing 
as  it  took  his  fancy,  in  medicine,  chemistry,  juris- 
prudence, or  matters  of  taste.  Into  others,  the  same 
things  are  transferred,  but  distributed  according  to 
their  scientific  connexions.  In  short,  he  kept  a 
journal  and  ledger  of  his  studies,  and  has  posted  his 
books  like  a  merchant.  What  particularly  strikes  one 
in  looking  over  these  books,  is  the  steadiness  with 
which  he  advanced  in  any  path  of  knowledge.  Things 
are  inserted  for  the  first  time  from  some  present  im- 
pression of  their  singularity  or  importance,  but  with- 
out any  allusion  to  their  connexions.  When  a  thing 
of  the  same  kind  is  mentioned  again^  there  is  gene- 


316  HISTORY   OP  CHEMISTRY. 

rally  a  reference  back  to  its  fellow ;  and  thus  the  most 
isolated  facts  often  acquired  a  connexion  which  gave 
them  importance. 

He  went  to  Edinburgh  to  finish  his  medical  studies 
in  1 750  or  1 75 1 ,  where  he  lived  with  his  cousin  german^ 
Mr.  James  Russel,  professor  of  natural  philosophy  in 
that  university. 

It  was  the  good  fortune  of  chemical  science,  that 
at  this  very  time  the  opinions  of  professors  were  di- 
vided concerning  the  manner  in  which  certain  lithon- 
triptic  medicines,  particularly  lime-water,  acted  in 
alleviating  the  excruciating  pains  of  the  stone  and 
gravel.  The  students  usually  partake  of  such  diflfiw-^ 
ences  of  opinion  :  they  are  thereby  animated  to  more 
serious  study,  and  science  gains  by  their  emulation; 
This  was  a  subject  quite  to  the  taste  of  young  Mr,* 
Black,  one  of  Dr.  Cullen's  most  zealous  and  intelli-' 
gent  chemical  pupils.  It  was,  indeed,  a  most  inteP- 
esting  subject,  both  to  the  chemist  and  the  physician* 

All  the  medicines  which  were  then  in  vogue  as  sob 
vents  of  urinary  calculi  had  a  greater  or  less  reseoH 
blance  to  caustic  potash  or  soda ;  substances  so  acrid^ 
when  in  a  concentrated  state,  that  in  a  short  time  th&f 
reduce  the  fleshy  parts  of  the  animal  body  to  a  m6f0 
pulp.  Thus,  though  they  might  possess  lithontriptMl 
properties,  their  exhibition  was  dangerous,  if  in  iijP* 
skilful  hands.  They  all  seemed  to  derive  their  eftj 
cacy  from  quicklime,  which  again  derives  its  powtf 
from  the  fire.  It  was  therefore  very  natural  for  the# 
to  ascribe  its  power  to  igneous  matter  imbibed  fr<^ 
the  fire,  retained  by  the  lime,  and  communicated  by 
it  to  alkalies,  which  it  renders  powerfully  acrid.  Henoa( 
undoubtedly,  the  term  caustic  applied  to  the  alkalM 
in  that  state,  and  hence  also  the  acidum  pingne  ot 
Mayer,  which  was  a  peculiar  state  of  fire.  It  appeaH 
from  Dr.  Black's  note-books,  that  he  originally  eatarii 
tained  the  opinion,  that  caustic  alkalies  acquired, 
i^eous  matter  from  quicklime.    In  one  of  them-lfl 


CHEBOSTRT  IN  GREAT   BRITAIN.  317 

I  at  some  way  of  catching  this  matter  as  it  escapes 
1  lime,  while  it  becomes  mild  by  exposure  to  the 
but  on  the  opposite  blank  page  is  written,  "  No- 
f  escapes — the  cup  rises  considerably  by  absorb- 
air/'  A  few  pages  further  on,  he  compares  the 
of  weight  sustained  by  an  ounce  of  chalk  when 
ned,  with  its  loss  while  dissolved  in  muriatic  acid, 
ediately  after  this,  a  medical  case  is  mentioned, 
h  occurred  in  November,  1752.  Hence  it  would 
ar,  that  he  had  before  that  time  suspected  the  real 
5 •of  the  difference  between  limestone  and  burnt 
He  had  prosecuted  his  inquiry  with  vigour ;  for  the 
riments  with  magnesia  are  soon  after  mentioned, 
lese  experiments  laid  open  the  whole  mystery,  as 
dLTS  by  another  memorandum.  "  When  I  preci- 
3  lime  by  a  common  alkali  there  is  no  efferves- 
i :  the  air  quits  the  alkali  for  the  lime;  but  it  is 
no  longer,  but  C.  C.  C. :  it  now  effervesces,  which 
lime  will  not."  What  a  multitude' of  important 
{quences  naturally  flowed  from  this  discovery !  He 
knew  to  what  the  causticity  of  alkalies  is  owing, 
10 w  to  induce  it  or  remove  it  at  pleasure.  The 
ion  notion  was  entirely  reversed.  Lime  imparts 
ng  to  the  alkalies;  it  only  removes  from  them 
uliar  kind  of  air  (carbonic  acid  gas)  with  which 
were  combined,  and  which  prevented  their  na- 
caustic  properties  from  being  developed.  All  the 
T  mysteries  disappear,  and  the  greatest  simplicity 
irs  in  those  operations  of  nature  which  before 
tred  so  intricate  and  obscure. 
.  Black  had  fixed  upon  this  subject  for  his  in- 
•al  dissertation,  and  was  induced,  in  consequence, 
*er  applying  for  his  degree  till  he  had  succeeded 
ablishing  his  doctrine  beyond  the  possibility  of 
idiction.  The  inaugural  essay  was  delivered  at 
nent  peculiarly  favourable  to  the  advancement 
ence.  Dr.  Cullen  had  been  jusl  removed  to 
mrgh,  and  thete  was  a  vacancy  in  the  chemical 


818  HISTORY  07  CHBMI8TRT. 

chair  in  Glasgow:  it  could  not  be  bestowed  1 
than  on  such  an  alumnus  of  the  university— <m 
who  had  distinguished  himself  both  as  a  chemif 
an  ;  excellent  reasoner ;  for  few  finer  models  of  i 
tive  investigation  exist  than  are  displayed  in  B 
essay  on  quicklime  and  magnesia.  He  was  app 
professor  of  anatomy  and  lecturer  on  chemistry 
University  of  Glasgow  in  1756.  It  was  a  fori 
circumstance  both  for  himself  and  for  the  publi< 
a  situation  thus  presented  itself,  just  at  the  time 
he  was  under  the  necessity  of  settling  in  the  wc 
a  situation  which  allowed  him  to  dedicate  hi^  t 
chiefly  to  the  cultivation  of  chemistry,  his  &f 
science. 

When  Dr.  Black  took  his  degree  in  medica 
sent  some  copies  of  his  essay  to  his  father « 
deaux.  A  copy  was  given  by  the  old  gentlcn 
his  friend,  the  President  Montesquieu,  who,  a 
few  days  called  on  Mr.  Black,  and  said  tO 
"  Mr.  Black,  my  very  good  friend,  I  rejoice 
you ;  your  son  will  be  the  honour  of  your  nan 
family."  This  anecdote  was  told  Professor  Jd 
bison  by  the  brother  of  Dr.  Black. 

Thus  Dr.  Black,  while  in  Glasgow,  taught  ( 
and  the  same  time  two  different  classes.  He  d 
consider  himself  very  well  qualified  to  teach  ani 
but  determined  to  do  his  utmost ;  but  he  soon 
wards  made  arrangements  with  the  professor  of 
cine,  who,  with  the  concurrence  of  the  unit 
exchanged  his  own  chair  for  that  of  Dr.  Black. 

Black's  medical  lectures  constituted  his  chk 
while  in  Glasgow.  They  gave  •  the  greateil 
faction  by  their  perspicuity  and  simplicity,  a 
the  cautious  moderation  of  all  his  general  doo 
and,  indeed,  all  his  perspicuity,  and  all  his  m 
of  manner  in  exhibiting  simple  truths,  were  nei 
to  create  a  relish  for  moderation  and  caution,  af 
brilliant  prospects  of  systematic  knowledge  tQ 


CBISXISTBT  IK  6EEAT  BEXTAIN.  319 

the  Students  had  been  accustomed  by  Dr.  Cullen,  his 
celebrated  predecessor.  But  Dr.  Black  had  no  wish 
to  form  a  medical  school,  distinguished  by  some  all* 
CiMnprehending  doctrine :  he  satisfied  himself  with  a 
clear  account  of  as  much  of  physiology  as  he  thought 
founded  on  good  principles,  and  a  short  sketch  of  such 
general  doctrines  as  were  maintained  by  the  most  emi- 
nent authors,  though  perhaps  on  a  less  firm  founda- 
tion. He  then  endeavoured  to  deduce  a  few  canons 
of  medical  practice,  and  concluded  with  certain  rules 
founded  on  successful  practice  only,  but  not  dedu- 
cible  from  the  principles  of  physiology  previously  laid 
down.  With  his  medical  lectures  he  does  not  appear 
to  have  been  himself  entirely  satisfied  :  he  did  not 
encourage  conversation  on  the  different  topics,  and 
no  remains  of  these  lectures  were  to  be  found  among 
his  papers.  The  preceding  account  of  them  was  given 
to  Professor  Robison  by  a  surgeon  in  Glasgow,  who 
attended  the  two  last  medical  courses  which  Dr.  Black 
ever  delivered. 

Dr.  Black's  reception  at  Glasgow  by  the  university 
was  in  the  highest  degree  encouraging.  His  former 
conduct  as  a  student  had  not  only  done  him  credit  in 
his  classes,  but  had  conciliated  the  affection  of  the 
professors  to  a  very  high  degree.  He  became  imme- 
diately connected  in  the  strictest  friendship  with  the 
celebrated  Dr.  Adam  Smith — a  friendship  which  con- 
tinued intimate  and  confidential  through  the  whole  of 
their  lives.  Both  were  remarkable  for  a  certain  sim- 
plicity of  character  and  the  most  incorruptible  inte- 
grity. Dr.  Smith  used  to  say,  that  no  one  had  less 
nonsense  in  his  head  than  Dr.  Black ;  and  he  ofteii 
acknowledged  himself  obliged  to  him  for  setting  him 
right  in  his  judgment  of  character,  confessing  that  he 
himself  was  too  apt  to  form  his  opinion  from  a  single 
feature. 

It  was  during  his  residence  in  Glasgow,  between 
the  years  1759  and  1763,  that  he  brought  to  maturity 


320  HISTORY  OF  CHEMISTRY. 

those  speculations  concerning  the-combination  of  heat 
with  mattery  which  had  frequently  occupied  a  por- 
tion of  his  thoughts.  It  had  long  been  known  that  ice 
has  the  property  of  continuing  always  at  the  tempera- 
ture of  32*»  till  it  be  melted .  This  happens  equally  though 
it  be  placed  in  contact  with  the  warm  hand  or  sur- 
rounded with  bodies  many  degrees  hotter  than  itself. 
The  hotter  the  bodies  are  that  surround  it,  the  sooner 
is  it  melted ;  but  its  temperature  during  the  whole 
process  of  melting,  continues  uniformly  the  same.  Yet, 
during  the  whole  process  of  melting,  it  is  constantly 
robbing  the  surrounding  bodies  of  heat ;  for  it  makes 
them  colder,  without  acquiring  itself  any  sensible  heat. 
Dr.  Black  had  some  vague  notion  that  the  heat  so 
received  by  the  ice,  during  its  conversion  into  water, 
was  not  lost,  but  was  contained  in  the  water.  This 
opinion  was  founded  chiefly  on  a  curious  observation 
of  Fahrenheit,  recorded  by  Boerhaave;  namely,  that 
water  might  in  some  cases  be  made  considerably  colder 
than  melting  snow,  without  freezing.  In  such  cases, 
when  disturbed  it  would  freeze  in  a  moment,  and  in 
the  act  of  freezing  always  gave  out  a  quantity  of  heat. 
This  opinion  was  confirmed  by  observing  the  slowness 
with  which  water  is  converted  into  ice,  and  ice  into 
water.  A  fine  winter-day  of  sunshine  is  never  suffi- 
cient to  clear  the  hills  of  snow ;  nor  is  one  frosty 
night  capable  of  covering  the  ponds  with  a  thick  coat- 
ing of  ice.  The  phenomena  satisfied  him  that  much 
heat  was  absorbed  and  fixed  in  the  water  which  trickles 
from  wreaths  of  snow,  and  that  much  heat  emerged 
from  it  while  water  was  slowly  converted  into  ice; 
for  during  a  thaw  the  melting  snow  is  always  colder 
than  the  air,  and  must,  therefore,  be  always  receiving 
heat  from  it ;  while,  during  a  frost,  the  air  is  always 
colder  than  the  freezing  water,  and  must  therefore  be 
always  receiving  heat  from  it.  These  observations, 
and  many  others  which  it  is  needless  to  state,  satisfied 
Dr.  Black  that  when  ice  is  converted  into  water  it 


GHSXISTRY  IN   GREAT  BRITAIN.         .      331 

^^dtea  with  a  quantity  of  heat,  without  increasing  in 
^^perature ;  and  that  when  water  b  frozen  into  ice 
^  gives  out  a  quantity  of  heat  without  diminishing  in 
tampeJrature.  The  heat  thus  combined  is  the  cause 
Of  the  fluidity  of  the  water.  As  it  is  not  sensible  to 
tlie  thermometer,  Dr.  Black  called  it  latent  heat.  .  He 
■Qiade  an  experiment  to  determine  the  quantity  of  heat 
Jiecessary.to  convert  ice  into  water.  This  he  estimated 
bv  the  length  of  time  necessary,  to  melt  a  given  weight 
in  ice,  measuring  how  much  heat  entered  into  the 
same  weight  of  water,  reduced  as  nearly  to  the  tem- 
perature of  ice  as  possible  during  the  first  half-hour 
that  the  experiment  lasted.  As  the  ice  continued 
during  the  whole  of  its  melting  at  the  same  temper- 
ature as  at  first,  he  concluded  that  it  would  absorb, 
every  half-hour  that  the  process  lasted,  as  much  heat 
as  the  water  did  during  the  first  half  hour.  The  re- 
sult of  this  experiment  was,  that  the  latent  heat  of 
water  amounts  to  140**;  or,  in  other  words,  that  this 
heat,  if  thrown  into  a  quantity  of  water,  equal  in 
weight  to  that  of  the  ice  melted,  would  raise  its  tem- 
|)erature  140o. 

Dr.  Black,  having  established  this  discovery  in 
the  most  incontrovertible  manner  by  simple  and 
decisive  experiments,  drew  up  an  account  of  the 
whole  investigation,  and  the  doctrine  which  he  founded 
upon  it,  and  read  it  to  a  literary  society  which  met 
every  Friday  in  the  faculty- room  of  the  college,  con- 
sisting of  the  members  of  the  university  and  several 
gentlemen  of  the  city,  who  had  a  relish  for  science 
and  literature.  This  paper  was  read  on  the  23d  of 
April,  as  appears  by  the  registers  of  the  society. 

Dr.  Black  quickly  perceived  the  vast  importance  of 
this  discovery,  and  took  a  pleasure  in  laying  before 
his  students  a  view  of  the  beneficial  effects  of  this  ha- 
bitude of  heat  in  the  economy  of  nature.  During  the 
summer  season  a  vast  magazine  of  heat  was  accumu- 
lated in  the  water^  which,  by  gradually  emerging 

VOL.  I.  V 


322  BISTOKT   OF   CnEMXSTRT. 

during  congelation,  serves  to  temper  the  cold  of  wint^. 
Were  it  not  for  this  accumulation  of  heat  in  water  and 
other  bodies,  the  sun  would  no  sooner  go  a  few  degrees 
to  the  south  of  the  equator,  than  we  should  feel  all 
the  horrors  of  winter.  He  did  not  confine  his  views 
to  tiie  congelation  of  water  alone,  but  extended  them 
to  every  case  of  congelation  and  liquefaction  which 
he  has  ascribed  equally  to  the  evolution  or  fixation 
of  latent  heat.  Even  those  bodies  which  change  from 
solid  to  fluid,  not  all  at  once,  but  by  slow  degrees,  as 
butter,  tallow,  resins,  owe,  he  found,  their  gradual 
softening  to  the  same  absorption  of  heat,  and  the  same 
combination  of  it  with  the  substance  undergoing  lique- 
faction. 

Another  subject  that  engaged  his  attention  at  this 
time,  was  an  examination  of  the  scale  of  the  thermo*- 
mcter,  to  learn  whether  equal  dififerences  of  expansion 
corresponded  to  equal  additions  or  abstractions  of 
heat.  His  mode  was  to  mix  together  equal  weights  of 
water  of  different  temperatures,  and  to  measure  the 
temperature  of  the  mixture  by  a  thermometer.  It  is 
obvious  that  the  temperature  must  be  the  exact  mean 
of  that  of  the  two  portions  of  water ;  and  that  if  the 
expansion  or  contraction  of  the  mercury  in  the  ther- 
mometer be  an  exact  measure  of  the  difference  of 
temperature,  a  thermometer,  so  placed,  will  indicate 
the  exact  mean.  Suppose  one  pound  of  water  at  lOO* 
to  be  mixed  with  one  pound  of  water  at  200%  and  the 
whole  heat  still  to  remain  in  the  mixture,  it  is  obvioim 
that  it  would  divide. itself  equally  between  the  two 
portions  of  water.  The  water  of  100°  would  become 
hotter,  and  the  water  of  200**  would  become  colder-: 
and  the  increase  of  temperature  in  the  colder  portion 
would  be  just  as  much  as  the  diminution  of  temperature 
in  the  hotter  portion.  The  colder  portion  would  be- 
come hotter  by  SO",  while  the  hotter  portion  would 
become  colder  by  50®.  Hence  the  real  temperature, 
after  mixture,  would  be  150*;  and  a  thennometsr 


CHEMISTKT   IV    GEEAT   BRITAIX.  323 

plunged  into  such  a  mixture,  if  a  true  measurer  of 
lieat,  would  indicate  150".  The  result  of  his  experi- 
ments was,  that  as  high  up  as  he  could  try  by  mixing 
water  of  different  temperatures,  the  mercurial  thermo* 
meter  is  an  accurate  measurer  of  the  alterations  of 
temperatnie. 

An  account  of  his  experiments  on  this  subject  was 
drawn  up  by  him,  and  read  to  the  literary  society  of 
the  College  of  Glasgow,  on  the  28th  of  March,  1760. 
Dr.  Black,  at  the  time  he  made  these  experiments,  did 
not  know  that  he  had  been  already  anticipated  in 
them  by  Dr.  Brooke  Taylor,  the  celebrated  mathema* 
tician,  who  had  obtained  similar  results,  and  had  con* 
signed  his  experiments  to  the  Royal  Society,  in  whose 
Transactions  for  1723  they  were  published.  It  has 
been  since  found  by  Coulomb  and  Petit,  that  at  higher 
temperatures  than  212**  the  rate  of  the  expansion  of 
mercury  begins  to  increase.  Hence  it  happens  that 
at  high  temperatures  the  expansion  of  mercury  is  no 
longer  an  accurate  measurer  of  temperature.  Fortu- 
nately, the  expansion  of  glass  very  nearly  equals  the 
increment  of  that  of  mercury.  The  consequence  is, 
that  in  a  common  glass-thermometer  mercury  mea- 
sures the  true  increments  of  temperature  very  nearly 
up  to  its  boiling  point ;  for  the  boiling  point  of  mer- 
cury measured  by  an  air-thermometer  is  662® :  and  if 
a  glass  mercurial  thermometer  be  plunged  into  boiling 
mercury,  it  will  indicate  660",  a  di£ference  of  only  2* 
from  the  true  point. 

There  is  such  an  analogy  between  the  cessation  of 
thermometric  expansion  during  the  liquefaction  of  ice, 
and  during  the  conyersion  of  water  into  steam,  that 
their  could  be  no  hesitation  about  explaining  both  in 
the  same  way.  Dr.  Black  immediately  concluded 
that  as  water  is  ice  united  to  a  certain  quantity  of  latent 
heatf  so  steam  is  water  united  to  a  still  greater  quan- 
tity. The  slow  conversion  of  water  into  steam,  not- 
withatanding  the  great  quantity  of  heat  constantly 

y2 


324  HISTORY   OF  CHEMISTRY. 

flowing  into  it  from  the  fire,  left  no  reasonable  doubt 
about  the  accuracy  of  this  conclusion.  In  short,  alL 
the  phenomena  are  precisely  similar  to  those  of  the- 
conversion  of  ice  into  water ;  and  so,  of  course,  must 
the  explanation  be.  So  much  was  he  conyinced  of 
this,  that  he  taught  the  doctrine  in  his  lectures  in 
1761,  before  he  had  made  a  single  experiment  on  the 
subject ;  and  he  explained,  with  great  felicity  of  ar- 
gument, many  phenomena  of  nature,  which  result 
from  this  vaporific  combination  of  heat.  From  notes 
taken  in  his  class  during  this  session,  it  appears  that 
nothing  more  was  wanting  to  complete  his  views  on 
this  subject,  than  a  set  of  experiments  to  determine  the 
exact  quantity  of  heat  which  was  combined  in  steam 
in  a  state  not  indicated  by  the  thermometer,  and  there- 
fore latent,  in  the  same  sense  that  the  heat  of  lique- 
faction in  water  is  latent. 

The  requisite  experiments  were  first  attempted  by 
Dr.  Black,  in  1764.  They  consisted  merely  in  mea- 
suring the  time  requisite  to  convert  a  certain  weight 
of  water  of  a  given  temperature  into  steam,  llie 
water  was  put  into  a  tin-plate  wide-mouthed  vessel, 
and  laid  upon  a  red-hot  plate  of  iron,  the  initial  tem- 
perature of  the  water  was  marked,  and  the  time  ne- 
cessary to  heat  it  from  that  point  to  the  boiling  point 
noted,  and  then  the  time  requisite  to  boil  the  whole  to 
dryness.  It  was  taken  for  granted  that  as  much  heat 
would  enter  into  the  water  during  every  minute  that 
the  experiment  lasted,  as  did  during  the  first  minute. 
From  this  it  was  concluded  that  the  latent  heat  of 
steam  is  not  less  than  810  degrees. 

Mr.  James  Watt  afterwards  repeated  these  experi- 
ments with  a  better  apparatus  and  very  great  care, 
and  calculated  from  his  results  that  the  latent  heat  of 
steam  is  not  under  950  degrees.  Lavoisier  and  Laplace 
afterwards  made  experiments  in  a  different  way,  and 
deduced  1000^  as  the  result  of  their  experiments. 
The  subsequent  experiments  of  Count  Rumfordy  meda 


CHEMISTRT  HT   GUEAT  BUITAIK.  395 

« 

^  a  Tery  ingenious  manner,  so  as  to  obviate  most  of 

fte  sources  of  error,  to  which  such  researches  are 

iuible,  come  very  nearly  to  those  of  Lavoisier.     lOOO^ 

therefore,  is  usually  now-a-days  adopted  as  the  num* 

ber  which  denotes  the  true  latent  heat  of  steam. 

Dr.  Black  continued  in  the  University  of  Glasgow 
from  1756  to- 1766,  much  esteemed  as  an  eminent 
professor,  much  employed  as  an  able  and  attentive 
physician,  and  much  beloved  as  an  amiable  and  ac- 
complished man,  happy  in  the  enjoyment  of  a  small 
but  select  society  of  friends.  Meanwhile  his  reputa- 
tion as  a  chemical  philosopher  was  every  day  increasing, 
emd  pupils  from  foreign  countries  carried  home  with 
them  tlie  peculiar  doctrines  of  his  courses — so  that 
fixed  air  and  latent  heat  began  to  be  spoken  of 
among  the  naturalists  of  the  continent.  In  1766  Dr. 
Cullen,  at  that  time  professor  of  chemistry  in  Edin- 
burgh, was  appointed  professor  of  medicine,  and  thus 
a  vacancy  was  made  in  the  chemical  chair  of  that 
university.  There  was  but  one  wish  with  regard  to  a 
successor.  Indeed,  when  the  vacancy  happened  in 
1756,  on  the  death  of  Dr.  Plummer,  the  reputation  of 
Dr.  Black,  who  had  just  taken  his  degree,  was  so  high, 
both  as  a  chemist  and  an  accurate  thinker  and  rea- 
soner,  that,  had  the  choice  depended  on  the  university, 
he  would  have  been  the  new  professor  of  chemistry. 
He  had  now,  in  1766,  greatly  added  to  his  claim  of 
merit  by  his  important  discovery  of  latent  heat ;  and 
he  had  acquired  the  esteem  of  all  by  the  singular  mo- 
deration and  scrupulous  caution  which  marked  all  his 
researches. 

Dr.  Black  was  appointed  to  the  chemical  chair  in 
Edinburgh  in  1766,  to  the  general  satisfaction  of 
the  {Public,  but  the  University  of  Glasgow  suffered  an 
irreparable  loss.  In  this  new  situation  his  talents  were 
more  conspicuous  and  more  extensively  useful.  He 
saw  that  the  case  was  so,  and  while  he  could  not  but 
be  gratified  by  the  nimiber  of  students  whom  the  high 


326  HISTORY  OT   CHEHISTar 

reputation  of  Edinburgh,  as  a  medical  school,  brougH^ 
together,  his  mind  was  forcibly  struck  by  the  impor- 
tance of  his  duties  as  a  teacher.    This  led  him  to  torto 
the  resolution  of  devoting  the  whole  of  his  study  to  ibe 
improvement  of  his  pupils  in  the  elementary  knowledge 
of  chemistry.     Many  of  them  came  to  his  class  with 
a  very  scanty  stock  of  previous  knowledge.     Many 
from  the  workshop  of  the  manufacturer  had  little  or  none. 
He  was  conscious  that  the  number  of  this  kind  of  pupils 
must  increase  with  the  increasing  activity  and  prospe- 
rity of  the  country ;  and  they  appeared  to  him  by  no 
means  the  least  important  part  of  his  auditory.  To  en- 
gage the  attention  of  such  pupils,  and  to  be  perfectly 
understood  by  the  most  illiterate  of  his  audience.  Dr. 
Black    considered   as  a  sacred  duty:    he  resolved, 
therefore,  that  plain   doctrines  taught  in  the  plainest 
manner,  should  henceforth  employ  his  chief  study.  To 
render  his  lectures  perfectly  intelligible  they  were  il- 
lustrated by  suitable  experiments,  by  the  exhibition  of 
specimens,  and  by  the  repetition  of  chemical  processes. 
To  this  method  of  lecturing  Dr.Black  rigidly  adhered, 
endeavouring  every  year  to  make  his  courses  more  plain 
and  familiar,  and  illustrating  them  by  a  greater  variety 
of  examples  in  the  way  of  experiment.    No  man  could 
perform  these  more  neatly  or  successfully  ;  they  were 
always  ingeniously  and  judiciously  contrived,  clearly 
establishing  the  point  in  view,  and  were  never  more 
complicated  than  was  sufficient  for  the  purpose.  Nothing 
that  had  the  least  appearance  of  quackery ;  nothing 
calculated  to    surprise  and   astonish   his  auci3nce; 
nothing  savouring  of  a  showman  or  sleight-of-hand 
man  was  ever  permitted  in  his  lecture-room.     Every 
thing  was  simple,  neat,  and  elegant,  calculated  equally 
to  please  and  to  inform :  indeed  simplicity  and  neatness 
stamped  his  character.   It  was  this  that  constituted 
the  charm  of  his  lectures,  and  rendered  them  so  de- 
lightful to  his  pupils.     I  can  speak  of  them  from  ex- 
perience, for  I  was  fortunate  enough  to  hear  the  hot 


\ 


? 


CHEMISTftT  IX    GREAT   BRITAIN.  327 

^'^toe  of  lectures  which  he  ever  delivered.  I  can 
*y  with  perfect  truth  that  I  never  listened  to  any 
lectures  with  so  much  pleasure  as  to  his  :  and  it  was 
tie  elegant  simplicity  of  his  manner,  the  perfect  clear- 
ness of  his  statements,  and  the  vast  quantity  of  infor- 
mation which  he  contrived  in  this  way  to  communicate, 
that  delighted  me.  I  was  all  at  once  transported  into 
a  new  world — my  views  were  suddenly  enlarged,  and 
I  looked  down  from  a  height  which  I  had  never  before 
reached ;  and  all  this  knowledge  was  communicated 
without  any  apparent  effort  either  on  the  part  of  the 
professor  or  his  pupils.  His  illustrations  were  just  suf- 
ficient to  answer  completely  the  object  in  view,  and 
nothing  more.  No  quackery,  no  trickery,  no  love  of 
mere  dazzle  and  glitter,  ever  had  the  least  influence 
upon  his  conduct.  He  constituted  the  most  complete 
model  of  a  perfect  chemical  lecturer  that  I  have  ever 
had  an  opportunity  of  witnessing. 
.  The  discovery  which  Dr.  Black  had  made  that 
marble  is  a  combination  of  lime  and  a  peculiar  sub- 
stance, to  which  he  gave  the  name  of  ^xed  air,  began 
gradually  to  attract  the  attention  of  chemists  in 
other  parts  of  the  world.  It  was  natural  in  the  first 
place  to  examine  the  nature  and  properties  of  this 
fixed  air,  and  the  circumstances  under  which  it  is  gene- 
lated.  It  may  seem  strange  and  unaccountable  that 
Dr.  Black  did  not  enter  with  ardour  into  this  new 
career  which  he  had  himself  opened,  and  that  he 
allowed  others  to  reap  the  corn  after  having  himself 
sown  the  grain.  Yet  he  did  take  seme  steps  towards 
ascertaining  the  properties  of  fixed  air;  though  I 
am  not  certain  what  progress  he  made. ,  He  knew  that 
a  candle  would  not  burn  in  it,  and  that  it  is  destructive 
to  life,  when  any  living  animal  attempts  to  breathe 
it.  He  knew  that  it  was  formed  in  the  lungs  during 
the  breathing  of  animals,  and  that  it  is  generated 
during  the  fermentation  of  wine  and  beer.  Whether 
he  was  aware  that  it  possesses  the  properties  of  an 


328  niSTORT  OF  chemistry. 

acid  I  do  not  know  ;  though  with  the  knowledge  whictc 
he  possessed  that  it  combines  with  alkalies  and  alkaline 
earths,  and  neutralizes  them,  or  at  least  blunts  and  di* 
minishes  their  alkaline  properties,  the  conclusion  that 
it  partook  of  alkaline  properties  was  scarcely  avoidable. 
All  these,  and  probably  some  other  properties  oi fixed 
air  he  was  in  the  constant  habit  of  stating  in  his  lectures 
from  the  very  commencement  of  his  academical  career; 
though,  as  he  never  published  any  thing  on  the  subject 
himself,  it  is  not  possible  to  know  exactly  how  far  hi* 
knowledge  of  the  properties  oi fixed  air  extended.  The 
oldest  manuscript  copy  of  his  lectures  that  I  have  seen 
was  taken  down  in  writing  in  the  year  1773;  and 
before  that  time  Mr.  Cavendish  had  published  his: 
paper  on  fixed  air  and  hydrogen  gas,  and  had  detailed 
the  properties  of  each.  It  was  impossible  from  the* 
manuscript  of  Dr.  Black's  lectures  to  know  which  of  the 
properties  of  fixed  air  stated  by  him  were  discovered 
by  himself,  and  which  were  taken  from  Mr.  Cavendish. 

This  languor  and  listlessness,  on  the  part  of  Dr. 
Black,  is  chiefly  to  be  ascribed  to  the  delicate  state  of 
his  health,  which  precluded  much  exertion,  and-  waft 
particularly  inconsistent  with  any  attempt  at  putting 
his  thoughts  down  upon  paper.  Hence,  probably,  that 
carelessness  about  posthumous  fame,  and  that  regard* 
lessness  of  reputation,  which,  however  it  may  be  ac- 
counted for  from  bodily  ailment,  must  still  be  consi- 
dered as  a  blemish.  How  differently  did  Paschal  act  in- 
a  similar  state  of  health  !  With  what  energy  did  he 
exert  himself  in  spite  of  bodily  ailment!  But  the  tone 
of  his  mind  was  quite  different  from  that  of  Dr.  Black.' 
Gentleness,  dijffidence,  and  perhaps  even  slowness- 
of  apprehension,  were  the  characteristic  features  by 
which  the  latter  was  distinguished. 

There  is  an  anecdote  of  Black  which  I  was  told  by 
the  late  Mr.  Benjamin  Bell,  of  Edinburgh,  author  of 
a  well-known  system  of  surgery,  and  he  assured  me 
that  he  had  it  from  the  late  Sir  George  Clarke,  o£ 


CHEHIST&T  HC   GREAT   BRITAIN.  929 

Penniciiiky  who  was  a  witness  of  the  circumstance 
^^^lated.  Soon  after  the  appearance  of  Mr.  Caven-  / 
diih's  paper  on  hydrogen  gas,  in 'which  he  made  an 
approximation  to  the  specific  gravity  of  that  body, 
Soowing  that  it  was  at  least  ten  times  lighter  than 
common  air,  Dr.  Black  invited  a  party  of  his  friends 
to  supper,  informing  them  that  he  had  a  curiosity  to 
show  them.  Dr.  Hutton,  Mr.  Clarke  of  Elden,  and  Sir 
George  Clarke  of  Pennicuik,  were  of  the  number. 
When  the  company  invited  had  assembled,  he  took 
them  into  a  room.  He  had  the  allentois  of  a  calf 
filled  with  hydrogen  gas,  and  upon  setting  it  at  liberty, 
it  immediately  ascended,  and  adhered  to  the  ceiling. 
The  phenomenon  was  easily  accounted  for:  it  wa» 
taken  for  granted  that  a  small  black  thread  had  been 
>  attached  to  the  allentois,  that  this  thread  passed  through 
the  ceiling,  and  that  some  one  in  the  apartment  above, 
by  pulling  the  thread,  elevated  it  to  the  ceiling,  and 
kept  it  in  this  position.  This  explanation  was  so  pro- 
bable,  that  it  was  acceded  to  by  the  whole  company  ; 
though,  like  many  other  plausible  theories,  it  turned 
out  wholly  unfounded;  for  when  the  allentois  was 
brought  down  no  thread  whatever  was  found  attached 
to  it.  Dr.  Black  explained  the  cause  of  the  ascent  to 
his  admiring  friends ;  but  such  was  his  carelessness  of 
his  own  reputation,  and  of  the  information  of  the  pub- 
lic, that  he  never  gave  the  least  account  of  this  curious 
experiment  even  to  his  class ;  and  more  than  twelve 
years  elapsed  before  this  obvious  property  of  hydrogen 
gas  was  applied  to  the  elevation  of  air-balloons,  by 
M.  Charles,  in  Paris. 

The  constitution  of  Dr.  Black  had  always  been  ex- 
ceedingly delicate.  The  slightest  cold,  the  most 
trifling  approach  to  repletion,  immediately  affected 
his  chest,  occasioned  feverishness,  and  if  the  disorder 
continued  for  two  or  three  days,  brought  on  a  spit- 
*  ting  of  blood.  In  this  situation,  nothing  restored  him 
to  ease,  but  relaxation  of  thought,  and  gentle  exercise. 


330  histohy  of  ciiemistrt. 

The  sedentary  life  to  which  study  confined  him, 
manifestly  hurtful ;  and  he  never  allowed  himself 
indulge  in   any  investigation  that  required 
thought,  without  finding  these  complaints  increased. 

Thus  situated,  Dr.  Black  was  obliged  to  be  a  con— • 
tented  spectator  of  the  rapid  progress  which  chemistr]^* 
was  making,  without  venturing  himself  to  engage  inm^ 
any  of  the  numerous  investigations  which  presenteA- 
themselves  on  every  side.    Such  indeed  was  the  eager— ^ 
ness  with  which  chemistry  was  at  that  time  prosecuted.^, 
and  such  the  passion  for  discovery,  that  there  wa^ 
some   risk  that  his  undoubted  claim  to  originality 
and  priority  in  his  own  great  discoveries,  might  bis 
called  in  question,  and  even  rendered  doubtful.     Hitf 
friends  at  least  were  afraid  of  this,  and  often  urged 
him  to  do  justice  to  himself,  by  publishing  an  account 
of  his  own  discoveries.     He  more  than  once  be°na 
the  task ;  but  was  so  nice  in  his  notions  of  the  manner 
in  which  it  should  be  executed,  that  the  pains  he  took 
in  forming  a  plan  of  the  work  never  failed  to  affect 
his  health,  and  oblige  him  to  desist.     It  is  known  that 
he  felt  hurt  at  the  publication  of  several  of  Lavoisier's 
papers,  in  the  Memoires  de  TAcademie,  without  any 
allusion  whatever  to  what  he  himself  had  previously 
done  on  the  same  subject.     How  far  Lavoisier  was 
really  culpable,  and  whether  he  did  not  intend  to  do 
full  justice  to  all  the  claims  of  his  predecessors,  cannot 
now  be  known ;  as  he  was  cut  off  in  the  midst  of  his 
career,  while  so  many  of  his  scientific  projects  re- 
mained unexecuted.     From  the  posthumous  works  of 
Lavoisier,    there  is   some  reason  for  believing  that  if 
he  had  lived,  he  would  have  done  justice  to  all  par- 
ties ;  but  there  is  no  doubt  that  Dr.  Black,  in  the  mean 
time,  Uiought  himself  aggrieved,  and  that  he  formed 
the  intention  of  doing  himself  justice,  by  publishing 
an  account  of  his  own  discoveries ;  however  this  in- 
tention was  thwarted  and  prevented  by  bad  health. 

No  one  contributed  more  largely  to  establish,  to  8up« 


CHE«I«TRT  nr  GBEAT   BmiTAIK  331 

iy  and  to  increase,  the  high  character  of  the  medical 
School  in  the  University  of  Edinburgh  than  Dr.  Black. 
^lis  talent  for  communicating  knowledge  was  not  less 
Eminent  than  his  faculty  of  observation.     He  soon  be* 
^;ame  one  of  the  princi|Md  ornaments  of  the  university ; 
%nd  his  lectures  were  attended  by  an  audience  which 
contiiiued  increasing  from  year  to  year  for  more  than 
thirty  years.    His  personal  appearance  and  manners 
irere  those  of  a  gentleman,  and  peculiarly  pleasing: 
his  voice,  in  lecturing,  was  low,  but  fine  ;  and  his  ar- 
ticulation so  distinct,  that  he  was  perfectly  well  heard 
by  an  audience  consisting  of  several  hundreds.   While 
in  Glasgow,  he  had  practised  extensively  as  a  physi- 
eian ;  but  in  Edinburgh  he  declined  general  practice, 
and  confined  his  attendance  to  a  few  families  of  inti- 
mate and  respected  friends.   He  was,  however,  a  phy- 
sician of  good  repute  in  a  place  where  the  character  of 
a  physician  implied  no  common  degree  of  liberality, 
propriety,  and  dignity  of  manners,  as  well  as  of  learn- 
ing and  skill. 

Such  was  Dr.  Black  as  a  public  man.  While  young, 
his  countenance  was  comely  and  interesting;  and  as  he 
advanced  in  years,  it  continued  to  preserve  that  pleas- 
ing expression  of  inward  satisfaction  which,  by  giving 
ease  to  the  beholder,  never  fails  to  please.  His  man- 
ners were  simple,  unafifected,  and  graceful ;  he  was  of 
the  most  easy  approach,  affable,  and  readily  entered 
into  conversation,  whether  serious  or  trivial :  for  he 
was  not  merely  a  man  of  science,  but  was  well  ac- 
quainted with  the  elegant  accomplishments.  He  had 
an  accurate  musical  ear,  and  a  voice  which  would  obey 
it  in  the  most  perfect  manner ;  he  sang  and  per- 
formed on  the  flute  with  great  taste  and  feeling ;  and 
could  sing  a  plain  air  at  sight,  which  many  instru- 
mental performers  cannot  do.  Music  was  his  amuse- 
ment in  Glasgow ;  after  his  removal  to  Edinburgh  he 
gave  it  up  entirely.  Without  having  studied  drawing 
he  had  acquired  a  considerable  power  of  expression 


332  HISTORY  OF  CHEMISTRY. 

witli  his  pencil,  both  in  figures  and  in  landscape.  He 
was  peculiarly  happy  in  expressing  the  passions,  and 
seemed  in  this  respect  tohave  the  talents  of  a  historicai 
painter.  Figure  indeed,  of  every  kind,  attracted  his 
attention  ;  in  architecture,  furniture,  ornament  of  every 
sort,  it  was  never  a  matter  of  indifference  to  him.  Even 
a  retort,  or  a  crucible,  was  to  his  eye  an  example  of 
beauty,  or  deformity.  These  are  not  indifferent  things  ; 
they  are  features  of  an  elegant  mind,  and  they  account 
for  some  part  of  that  satisfaction  and  pleasure  which 
persons  of  different  habits  and  pursuits  felt  in  Dr« 
Black*s  company  and  conversation. 

Those  circumstances  of  form,  and  in  which  Dr. 
Black  perceived  or  sought  for  beauty,  were  suitableness 
or  propriety:  something  that  rendered  them  well 
adapted  for  the  purposes  for  which  they  were  intended. 
This  love  of  propriety  constituted  the  leading  feature 
in  Dr.  Black's  mind ;  it  was  the  standard  to  which  he 
constantly  appealed,  and  which  he  endeavoured  to 
make  the  directing  principle  of  his  conduct. 

Dr.  Black  was  fond  of  society,  and  felt  himself 
beloved  in  it.  His  chief  companions,  in  the  earlier 
part  of  his  residence  in  Edinburgh,  were  Dr.  Adam 
Smith,  Mr.  David  Hume,  Dr.  Adam  Ferguson,  Mr. 
John  Home,  Dr.  Alexander  Carlisle,  and  a  few  others* 
Mr.  Clarke  of  Elden,  and  his  brother  Sir  George,  Dr. 
Roebuck,  and  Dr.  James  Hutton,  particularly  the  latter^ 
were  affectionately  attached  to  him,  and  in  their 
society  he  could  mdulge  in  his  professional  studies^ 
Dr.  Hutton  was  the  only  person  near  him  to  whom 
Dr.  Black  imparted  every  specidation  in  chemical 
science,  and  who  knew  all  his  literary  labours :  seldom 
were  the  two  friends  asunder  for  two  days  together. 

Towards  the  close  of  the  eighteenth  century,  the  infir* 
mities  of  advanced  life  began  to  bear  more  heavily  on  his 
feeble  constitution.  Th()se  hours  of  walking  and  g^- 
tle  exercise,  which  had  hitherto  been  necessary  for  his 
ease,  were  gradually  curtailed.    Company  and  con- 


CHSmSTRT  IK   O&EAT  BRITAIK.  333 

vtrsatioh  began  to  fatigue :  be  went  less  abroad,  and 
was  Yisited  only  by  his  intimate  friends.  His  duty  at 
(Dollege  became  too  heavy  for  him,  and  he  got  an 
aatistant,  who  took  a  share  of  the  lectures,  and  re* 
lieved  him  from  the  fatigue  of  the  experiments.  The 
Ifkst  course  of  lectures  which  he  delivered  was  in  the 
irinter  of  1796-7.  After  this,  even  lecturing  was  too 
tnuch  for  his  diminished  strength,  and  he  was  obliged 
to  absent  himself  from  the  class  altogether ;  but  he 
still  retained  his  usual  affability  of  temper,  and  his 
habitual  cheerfulness,  and  even  to  the  very  last  was 
accustomed  to  walk  out  and  take  occasional  exercise. 
As  his  strength  declined,  his  constitution  became  more 
and  more  delicate.  Every  cold  he  caught  occasioned 
some  degree  of  spitting  of  blood ;  yet  he  seemed  to 
bave  this  unfortunate  disposition  of  body  almost  under 
command,  so  that  he  never  allowed  it  to  proceed  far, 
<Mr  to  occasion  any  distressing  illness.  He  spun  his 
thread  of  life  to  the  very  last  fibre.  He  guarded 
against  illness  by  restricting  himself  to  an  .abstemious 
diet ;    and  he  .  met  his  increasing  infirmities  .  with  a 

Jroportional  increase  of  attention  and  care,  regulating 
is  food  and  exercise  by  the  measure  of  his  strength. 
Thus  he  made  the  most  of  a«feeble  constitution,  by 
]>reyenting  the  access  of  disease  from  abroad.  And 
enjoyed  a  state  of  health  which  was  feeble,  indeed,  but 
scarcely  interrupted ;  as  well  as  a  mind  undisturbed  in 
the  calm  and  cheerful  use  of  its  faculties.  His  only 
apprehension  was  that  of  a  long-continued  sick-bed 
f —  from  the  humane  consideration  of  the  trouble  and 
distress  that  he  might  thus  occasion  to  attending 
friends ;  and  never  was  such  generous  wish  more  com- 
pletely gratified  than  in  his  case. 

On  the  10th  of  November,  1799,  in  the  seventy-first 
year  of  his  age,  he  expired  without  any  convulsion, 
shock,  or  stupor,  to  announce  or  retard  the  approach 
of  death.  Being  at  table  with  his  usual  fare,  some 
bread,  a  few  prunes,  and  a  measured  quantity  of  milk. 


334  HI8T0RT  OF  CBEMI8TRT« 

dilated  with  water,  and  having  the  cap  in  his  hand 
when  the  last  stroke  of  his  pulse  was  to  be  given,  he 
set  it  down  on  his  knees,  which  were  joined  together^ 
and  kept  it  steady  with  his  hand  in  the  manner  of « 
person  perfectly  at  ease ;  and  in  this  attitude  expired 
without  spilling  a  drop,  and  without  a  writhe  in  hit 
countenance;  as  if  an  experiment  had  been  xe^ 
quired  to  show  to  his  friends  the  facility  with  which 
he  departed.  His  servant  opened  the  door  to  tell  him 
that  some  one  had  left  his  name  ;  but  getting  no  an-* 
swer,  stepped  about  halfvmy  to  him ;  and  seeing  him 
sitting  in  that  easy  posture,  supporting  his  basin  of 
milk  with  one  hand,  he  thought  that  he  had  dropped 
asleep,  which  was  sometimes  wont  to  happen  after 
meals.  He  went  back  and  shut  the  door ;  but  beibm 
he  got  down  stairs  some  anxiety,  which  he  could  not 
account  for,  made  him  return  and  look  again  at  hit 
master.  Even  then  he  was  satisfied,  after  coming 
pretty  near  him,  and  turned  to  go  away ;  but  he  agani 
returned,  and  coming  close  up  to  him,  he  found  him 
without  life.  His  very  near  neighbour,  Mr.  Benjamin 
Bell,  the  surgeon,  was  immediately  sent  for ;  but  no^ 
thing  whatever  could  be  done.* 

Dr.  Black's  writings  are  exceedingly  few,  consisting^ 
altogether  of  no  more  than  three  papers.  The  first, 
entitled  ''  Experiments  upon  Magnesia  alba,  QuickC 
lime,  and  other  Alkaline  Substances,"  constituted  the 
subject  of  his  inaugural  dissertation.  It  afterwaidl ' 
appeared  in  an  English  dress  in  one  of  the  volumes  of 
The  Edinburgh  Physical  and  Literary  Essays,  in  ibBf 
year  1755.  Mr.  Creech,  the  bookseller,  published  it^ 
in  a  separate  pamphlet,  together  with  Dr.  CuUenli' 
little  essay  on  the  '^cold  produced  by  evaporating! 

.1 
*  The  preceding  character  of  Dr.  Black  is  from  Profenqft 
Robison,  who  knew  him  intimately ;  and  from  Dr.  Adam  Fei»r. 
son,  who  was  his  next  relation.  See  the  preface  to  Dr.  Blaani 
lectures.  The  portrait  of  Dr.  Black  prefixed  to  these  leetnvafc' 
is  an  excellent  likenees. 


CHEHIfPTBT   IK  OSEAT  BRITAIN.  335 

fluids/'  in  the  year  1796.  This  essay  exhibits  one  of  the 
¥ery  finest  examples  of  inductive  reasoning  to  be  fonnd 
in  the  English  language.  The  author  diows  that  mag^ 
lesia  is  a  peculiar  earthy  body,  possessed  of  properties 
tery  different  from  lime.  He  gives  the  properties  of 
Hme  in  a  pure  state,  and  proves  that  it  differs  from  lime- 
stone merely  by  the  absence  of  the  carbonic  acid,  which 
is  a  constituent  of  limestone.  limestone  b  a  carbonate 
fffUme;  quicklime  is  the  pure  uncombined  earth.  He 
shows  that  magnesia  has  also  the  property  of  combining 
with  carbonic  acid ;  that  caustic  potash,  or  soda,  is 
merely  these  bodies  in  a  pure  or  isolated  state ;  while 
the  mild  alkalies  are  combinations  of -these  bodies  with 
carbonic  acid.  The  reason  why  quicklime  converts 
mild  into  caustic  alkali  is,  that  the  lime  has  a  stronger 
affinity  for  the  carbonic  acid  than  the  alkali ;  hence 
the  lime  is  converted  into  carbonate  of  lime,  and  the 
alkali,  deprived  of  its  carbonic  acid,  becomes  caustic* 
Mild  potash  is  a  carbonate  of  potash  ;  caustic  potash, 
is  potash  freed  from  carbonic  acid. — ^The  publication 
of  this  essay  occasioned  a  controversy  in  Germany, 
which  was  finally  settled  by  Jacquin  and  Lavoisier, 
who  repeated  Dr.  Black's  experiments  and  showed 
them  to  be  correct. 

Dr.  Black's  second  paper  was  published  in  the 
Philosophical  Transactions  for  1775.  It  is  entitled 
"  The  supposed  Effect  of  boiling  on  Water,  in  disposing 
it  to  freeze  more  readily,  ascertained  by  Experiments." 
He  shows,  that  when  water  that  has  been  recently  boil- 
ed is  exposed  to  cold  air,  it  begins  to  freeze  as  soon  as 
it  reaches  the  freezing  point;  while  water  that  has  not 
been  boiled  may  be  cooled  some  degrees  below  the 
freezing  point  before  it  begins  to  congeal.  But  if  the 
unboiled  water  be  constantly  stirred  during  the  whole 
time  of  its  exposure,  it  begins  to  freeze  when  cooled 
down  to  the  freezing  point  as  well  as  the  other.  He 
shows  that  the  difference  between  the  two  waters  con- 


336  HISTORY   OF  CHEMISTRT.     > 

sists  in  this,  that  the  boiled  water  is  constantly  absoit^ 
ing  air,  which  disturbs  it,  whereas  the  other  water  re- 
mains in  a  state  of  rest. 

His  last  paper  was  '^  An  Analysis  of  the  Water  of 
some  boiling  Springs  in .  Iceland,''  published  in  thB 
Transactions  of  the  Royal  Society  of  Edinburgh.  TUl 
was  the  water  of  the  Geyser  spring,  brought  from  Ice- 
land by  Sir  J.  Stanley.  Dr.  Black  found  it  to  con- 
tain a  great  deal  of  silica,  held  in  solution  in  the  water 
by  caustic  soda. 

The  tempting  career  which  Dr.  Black  opened,  and 
which  he  was  unable  to  prosecute  for  want  of  health, 
soon  attracted  the  attention  of  one  of  the  ablest  mes 
that  Great  Britain  has  produced — I  meanMr.GavendidL 

The  Honourable  Henry  Gavendish  was  bom  in  Lon- 
don on  the  1 0th  of  October,  1731 :  his  father  was 
Lord   Gharles   Gavendish,  a  cadet   of  the  house  of 
Devonshire,  one  of  the  oldest  families  in  England* 
During  his  father's  lifetime  he  was  kept  in  rather  nar? 
row  circumstances,  being  allowed  an  annuity  of  £500 
only;   while  his   apartments  were  a  set  of  stableSi 
fitted  up  for  his  accommodation.      It  was  during  this 
period  that  he  acquired   those  habits  of  economy 
and  those  singular  oddittes  of  character,  which  he  ex- 
'  hibited  ever  after  in  so  striking  a  manner.     At  his  te- 
ther's death  he  was  lefl-a  very  considerable  fortune; 
and  an  aunt  who  died  at  a  later  period  bequeathed 
liimavery  handsome  addition  to  it;  but,  in  consequence 
of  the  habits  of  economy  which  he  had  acquired,  it  was 
not  in  his  power  to  spend  the  greater  part  of  his  annual 
income.      Tliis  occasioned  a   yearly  increase  to  hk 
capital,  till  at  last  it  accumulated  so  much,  without  asT 
care  on  his  part,  that  at  the  period  of  his  death  he  left 
behind  him  nearly  £1,300,000;  and  he  was  at  that 
time  the  greatest  proprietor  of  stock  in  the  Bank  of 
England. 

On  one  occasion,  the  money  in  the  hands  of  his  bank- 


€HEinSTBr   IS    GREAT   BRITAIS.  337 

«rs  had  accumulated  to  the  amount  of  i70.000.  These 
gentlemen  thinking  it  improper  to  keep  so  lac^  a  sum 
in  their  hands,  sent  one  of  the  partners  to  wait  upon 
liim,  in  order  to  learn  how  he  desired  it  disposed  of. 
This  gentleman  was  admitted ;  and,  after  employing 
the  necessary  precautions  to  a  man  of  Mr.  Cavendish's 
peculiar  disposition,  stated  the  circumstance,  and  beg- 
ged to  know  whether  it  would  not  be  proper  to  lay  out 
the  money  at  interest.  Mr.  Cavendish  dryly  answered, 
"  You  may  lay  it  out  if  you  please,"  and  left  the  room. 

He  hardly  ever  went  into  any  other  society  than  that 
of  his  scientific  friends :  he  never  was  absent  from  the 
weekly  dinner  of  the  Royal  Society  club  at  the  Crown 
and  Anchor  Tavern  in  the  Strand.  At  these  dinners, 
when  he  happened  to  be  seated  near  those  that  he 
liked,  he  often  conversed  a  great  deal ;  though  at  other 
times  he  was  very  silent.  He  was  likewise  a  constant 
attendant  at  Sir  Joseph  Banks's  Sunday  evening  meet- 
ings. He  had  a  house  in  London,  which  he  only 
visited  once  or  twice  a-week  at  stated  times,  and  with- 
out  ever  speaking  to  the  servants :  it  contained  an 
excellent  library,  to  which  he  gave  all  literary  men  the 
freest  and  most  unrestrained  access.  But  he  lived  in 
a  house  on  Clapham  Common,  where  he  scarcely  ever 
received  any  visiters.  His  relation,  Lord  George  Ca- 
vendish, to  whom  he  left  by  will  the  greatest  part  of  his 
fortune,  visited  him  only  once  a-year,  and  the  visit 
hardly  ever  exceeded  ten  or  twelve  minutes. 

He  was  shy  and  bashful  to  a  degree  bordering  on 
disease  :  he  could  not  bear  to  have  any  person  intro- 
duced to  him,  or  to  be  pointed  out  in  any  way  as  a 
remarkable  man.  One  Sunday  evening  he  was 
standing  at  Sir  Joseph  Banks's  in  a  crowded  room, 
conversing  with  Mr.  Hatchett,  when  Dr.  Ingenhousz, 
who  had  a  good  deal  of  pomposity  of  manner,  came 
up  with  an  Austrian  gentleman  in  his  hand,  and  intro- 
duced him  formally  to  Mr.  Cavendish.  He  mentioned 
the  titles  and  qualifications  of  his  friend  at  great 

VOL.  1.  Z 


F  CHEHIHTRY. 


1 


length,  and  satd  that  he  had  ^xea  peculiarly  anuoiM 
to  be  introduced  to  a  philosopher  so  profound  and  f 
universally  known  and  celebrated  aa  Mr.  Cavendiab. 
As  soon  as  Dr.  ingenhouaz  had  fioiahed,  the  Austrian 
gentleman  began,  and  assured  Mr,  Cavendish  thatbis 
principal  reason  for  coming  to  London  was  to  see  and 
converse  with  one  of  the  greatest  ornaments  of  the 
age,  and  one  of  the  most  illustrious  philosophers  that 
ever  existed.  To  all  these  high-flown  speeches  Mr- 
Cavendish  answered  not  a  word,  but  stood  with  hi« 
eyes  cast  down  qnite  abashed  and  confounded.  M 
last,  spying  an  opening  in  the  crowd,  he  darted  througli 
it  with  all  the  speed  of  which  he  was  master ;  nor  (lid 
he  stop  till  he  reached  his  carriage,  which  drove  him 
directly  home. 

■  Of  a  man,  whose  habits  were  so  retired,  and  wboH 
intercourse  with  society  was  so  small,  there  is  nothint: 
else  to  relate  except  his  scientific  labours :  the  cuft 
rent  of  his  life  passed  on  with  the  iitniost  regularitj^ 
tlie  description  of  a  single  day  would  convey  a,  Coiredl 
idea  of  his  whole  existence.  At  one  time  he  was  q 
the  habit  of  keepingan  individual  to  assist  him  in  bi 
experiments,  Tliis  place  was  for  some  time  filled  bj 
Sir  Charles  Blagdcn ;  but  they  did  not  agree  well  U)f 
'  gether,  and  after,  some  time  Sir  Charles  left  htqf^ 
Mr.  Cavendish  died  on  the  4th  of  Febiuaiy,  181% 
aged  seventy-eight  years,  four  months,  and  six  dayH) 
"When  he  found  himself  dying,  he  gave  directions  ' 
his  servant  to  leave  him  alone,  and  not  to  return  till  a 
certain  time  which  he  specified,  and  by  which  penal 
he  expected  to  be  no  longer  alive.  The  servant,  hoKf 
ever,  who  was  aware  of  the  state  of  his  master,  andwRH 
anxious  about  him,  opened  the  door  of  the  room  befon^ 
the  time  specified,  and  approached  the  bed  to  take, a 
look  atthe  dying  man.  Mr.  Cavendish,  who  was  stilt 
s  offended  at  the  intrusion,  and  ordered 
(vith  a  voice  of  displeasure,  cotni* 
manding  him  not  by  any  means  to  return  till  the  timi 


CHBinSTRT   Iir  OSEAT   BRITAIN.  C39 

Specified.  Wh^n  he  did  come  back  at  that  time,  he 
found  his  master  dead.  What  a  contrast  between  the 
characters  of  Mr.  Cavendish  and  Dr.  Black ! 

'  The  appearance  of  Mr*  Cavendish  did  not  much 
prepossess  strangers  in  his  favour ;  he  was  somewhat 
above  the  middle  size,  his  body -rather  thick)  and  his 
neck  rather  short.    He  stuttered  a  little  in  his  speech^ 
which  gave  him  an  air  of  awkwardness :  his  counte- 
nance was  not  strongly  marked,  so  as  to  indicate  the 
profound  abilities  which  he  possessed.     This  was  pro-^ 
oably  owing  to  the  total  absence  of  all  the  violent  pas- 
sions.    His  education  seems  to  have  been  very  com- 
plete ;  he  was  an  excellent  mathematician,  a  profound 
electrician,  and  a -most  acute  and  ingenious  chemist. 
He  never  ventured  to  give  an  opinion  on  any  subject, 
unless  he  had  studied  it  to  the  bottom.     He  appeared 
before  the  world  first  as  a  chemist,  and  afterwards  as 
an  electrician.    The  whole  of  his  literary  labours  con- 
sist of  eighteen  papers,  published  in  the  Philosophical 
Transactions,  which,  though  they  occupy  only  a  few 
pages,  are  full  of  the  most  important  discoveries  and  the 
jmost  profound  investigations.  Of  these  papers,  there  are 
ten  which  treat  of  chemical  subjects,  two  treat  of  elec- 
tricity, two  of  meteorology,  three  are  connected  with 
astronomy,  and  there  is  one,  the  last  which  he  wrote, 
which  gives  his  method  of  dividing  astronomical  in- 
struments.     Of  the  papers  in  question,  those  alone 
which  treat  of  Chemistry  can  be  analyzed  in  a  work 
like  this. 

:  1 .  His  first  paper,  entitled,'*  Experiments  on  fictitious 
Air,"  was  published  in  the  year  1766,  when  Mr.  Caven- 
dish was  Uiirty-five  years  of  age.  Dr.  Hales  had  de- 
monstrated (as  had  previously  been  done  by  Van  Hel- 
inont  and  Glauber)  that  air  is  given  out  by  a  vast 
number  of  bodies  in  peculiar  circumstances.  But  he 
never  suspected  that  any  of  the  airs  which  he  obtained 
differed  from  common  air.  Indeed  common  air  had 
always  been  considered  as  an  elementary  substance  to 

z2 


» 


\ 


MO  msTORT  OF  cHEMinnr.  H 

which  every  elastic  fluid  was  referred.  Dr.  Blacklitd  H 
shown  that  the  mild  alkalies  and  limestone,  and  ciir-  II 
bonate  of  magnesia,  were  combinations  of  these  bodies  H 
with  a  gaseous  substance,  to  which  he  had  given  the  p 
jt2jnt  o(  _fixed  air  I  and  he  had  pointed  out  various  ll 
methods  of  collecting  this  fixed  air ;  though  he  him-  I  * 
self  had  not  made  much  progress  in  investigating  Its  (• 
properties.  This  paper  of  Mr.  Cavendish  maybecoB-  |V 
sidered  as  a  continuation  of  the  investigations  begiltt  P 
by  Dr.  Black.  He  shows  that  there  exist  two  specie!  of  W 
air  quite  different  in  their  properties  from  common  ail !  11' 
and  he  calls  them  inflammable  air  Andjixed  air.  I 

Inflammable   air  (hydrog;en  gas)  is   evolved  when    I 
iron,  zinc,  or  tin,  are  dissolved  in  dilute  sulphutic  or    '' 
muriatic  acid.     Iron  yielded  about  l-22d  part  of  it»    I' 
weight,    of   inflammable    air,    zinc  about    l-23il  Or    ]' 
l-24th  of  its  weight,  and    tin   about  l-44th   of  its    l] 
weight.     The  properties  of  the  inflammable  air  wer^ 
the   same,  whichever  of  the  three  metals  was  used 
to  procure  it,  and  whether  they  were  dissolved  in  soli 
phuric  or  muriatic  acids.  When  the  sulphuric  acid  wai 
concentrated,  iron  and  zinc  dissolved  m  it  with  diffi- 
cnlty  and  only  by  the  assistance  of  heat.  The  air  gived 
out  was  not  inflammable,  but  consisted  of  sulphuroilfc 
acid.    These  facts  induced  Mr.  Cavendish  to  conclude 
that  the  inflammable  air  evolved  in  the  first  case  watf 
the  unaltered  phlogiston  of  the  metals,  while  the  sul^ 
phurous  acid  evolved  in  the  second  case,  was  a  cord.^ 
pound  of  the  same  phlogiston  and  a  portion  of  thi  ■ 
acid,  which  deprived  it  of  its  inflammability.     ThS- 
opinion  was  very  different  from  that  of  Stahl,who  cobj* 
sidered  combustiblebodies  as  compounds  of  phlogistoi 
with  acids  or  calces.  ' 

Cavendish  found  the  specific  gravity  of  his  inOamnui^ 
ble  air  about  eleven  times  leas  than  that  of  common  afri 
This  determination  is  under  the  truth ;  but  the  error  is,  at' 
least  in  part,  owing  to  the  quantity  of  water  held  iB 
solution  by  the  air,  and  which,  as  Mr.  Cavendish  showed 


1   CHEAT    BRITAIN.  341 

•.mounled  to  about  l-9th  of  the  weight  of  the  air. 
He  tried  the  combustibility  of  the  inflammable  air, 
\vheii  mixed  with  various  proporlions  of  common  air, 
and  found  that  itexploded  with  the  greatest  violence  when 
tnixed  with  rather  more  than  its  bulk  of  common  air. 

Copper  he  found,  when  dissolved  in  muriatic  acid  by 
the  assistance  of  heat,  yielded  no  inSammable  air,  but 
an  tur  which  lost  its  elasticity  when  it  came  in  contact 
with  water.  This  air,  the  nature  of  which  Mr.  Caven- 
dish did  not  examine,  was  mufiatic  acid  gas,  the  pro- 
perties of  which  were  afterwards  investigated  by  Dr. 
Priestley. 

The  Jixed  air  (carbonic  acid  gas)  on  whicii  Mr,  Ca- 
vendish made  his  experiments  was  obtained  by  dis- 
solving marble   in  muriatic  acid.     He  found  that  it 
might  be  kept  over  mercury  for  any  length  of  time 
without  undergoing  any  alteration ;  that  it  was  gra- 
dually absorbed  by  cold  water;  and  that  100  measures 
of  water  of  the  temperature  55'  absorbed  103-8  mea- 
sures of  fixed  air.     The  whole  of  the  air  thus  ab- 
sorbed was  separated  again  by  exposing  the  water  to  a 
boiling  heat,  or  by  leaving  it  for  some  time  in  an  open 
I      vessel.     Alcohol  (the  specific  gravity  not  mentioned) 
I      absorbed  2J   times  its  bulk  of  this  air,  and  olive-oil 
I      ftbout  l-3d  of  its  bulk. 

.  '  TRie  specific  gravity  of  fixed  air  he  found  1-57,  that 
I  ^  common  air  being  1.*  Fixed  air  is  incapable  of 
swporting  combustion,  and  common  air,  when  mixed 
With  it,  supports  combustion  a  much  shorter  time  than 
when  pure.  A  small  wax  taper  burnt  eighty  seconds  in  a 
receiver  which  held  ISO  ounce  measures,  when  filled 
with  common  air  only.  The  same  taper  burnt  fifty- 
•ne  seconds  in  the  same  receiver  when  filled  with  a 
mixture  of  one  volume  fixed  air,  and  nineteen  volumes 
of  common  air.     When  the  fixed  air  was  3-40ths  of 

*  Tlibi  t  apprfhend  to  be  a  little  above  the  truth,  the  trua 
■■peellic  gravity  of  carbonic  acid  gas  being  Vb217,  Uial  of  air 
Lciag  unity. 


349  HISTORY   OF   CHEMISTRT.       i 

the  whole  volume  tlie  taper  burnt  twenty-three  se^ 
eonds.  When  the  fixed  air  was  1-lOth,  the  taper  burnt 
eleven  seconds.  When  it  was  6-55ths  or  1-9*16  of 
the  whole  mixture,  the  taper  would  not  burn  at  all. 

Mr.  Cavendish  was  of  opinion  that  more  than  one 
kind  of  fixed  air  was  given  out  by  marble;  in  other  words, 
that  the  elastic  fluid  emitted,  consisted  of  two  different 
airs,  one  more  absorbable  by  water  than  the  other. 
He  drew  his  conclusion  from .  the  circumstance  that 
after  a  solution  of  potash  had  been    exposed  to  a 
quantity,  of  fixed  air  for  some  time,  it  ceas»l  to  absorb 
any  more ;  yet,  if  the  residual  portion  of  air  were  thrown 
away  and  new  fixed  air  substituted  in  its  place,  it  be- 
gan to  absorb  again ;  but  Mr.  Dalton  has  since  given 
a  satisfactory  explanation  of  this  seeming  anomaly  by 
showing  that  the  absorbability  of  fixed  air  in  water  is 
proportional  to  its  purity,  and  that  when  mixed  with  a 
great  quantity  of  common  air  or  any  other  gas  not 
soluble  in  water,  it  ceases  to  be  sensibly  absorbed. 

Mr.  Cavendish  ascertained  the  quantity  of  fixed 
air  contained  in  marble,  carbonate  of  ammonia,  com- 
mon pearlashes,  and  carbonate  of  potash :  but  not- 
withstanding the  care  with  which  these  experiments 
were  made  they  are  of  little  value ;  because  the  proper 
precautions  could  not  be  taken,  in  that  infant  state  of 
chemical  science,  to  have  these  salts  in  a  state  of 
purity.  The  following  were  the  results  obtained  by 
Mr.  Cavendish: 

1000  grains  of  marble  contained  408  grs.  fixed  air. 
1000       —      carb.  of  ammonia  533  — 

1000       —      pearlashes     .     .   284         — 
1000       —      carb.  of  potash       423         — 
Supposing  the  marble,  carbonate  of  ammonia,  and 
carbonate   of  potash,. to  have  been  pure  anhydrous 
simple  jsalts,  their  composition  would  be 

1000  grains  of  marble  contain     440    grs.  fixed  air. 
■rt«0       —       carb.  of  ammonia  709-6       —  , 

—       carb.  of  potash     314-2      — 


CnEXISTRT   19.  GREAT  BRITAIN.  343 

Bicarbonate  of  potash  was  first  obtained  by  Dr,  , 
Black.  Mr.  Cavendish  formed  the  salt  by  dissolving 
pearlashes  in  Tfater,  and  passing  a  current  of  carbonic 
acid  .gas  through  the  solution  till  it  deposited  crystals., 
These  crystals  were  not  altered  by  exposure  to  the  air, 
did  not  deliquesce,  and  were  soluble  in  about  four. , 
times  their  weight  of  cold  water. 
.  Dr.  M' Bride  had  already  ascertained  that  vegetable 
and  animal  substances  yield  fixed  air  by  putrefaction 
and  fermentation.  Mr.  Cavendish  found  by  experiment 
that  sugar  when  dissolved  in  water  and  fermented, 
gives  out  57-lOOths  of  its  weight  of  fixed  air,  possess- 
ing exactly  the  properties  of  fixed  air  from  marble. 
During  the  fermentation  no  air  was  absorbed,  nor  wa3 
any  change  induced  on  the  common  air,  at  the  surface 
of  the  fermenting  liquor.  Apple-juice  fermented  much 
faster  than  sugar ;  but  the  phenomena  were  the  same, 
and  the  fixed  air  emittea  amounted  to  ^  of  the 
weight  of  the  solid  extract  of  apples.  Gravy  and 
raw  meat  yielded  inflammable  air  during  their  putre- 
&ction,  the  former  in  much  greater  quantity  than  the 
latter.  This  air,  as  far  aa  Mr.  Cavendish's  experir 
ments  went,  he  found  the  same  as  the  inflammable  air 
from  zinc  by  dilute  sulphuric  acid;  but  its  specific 
gravity  was  a  little  higher. 

This  paper  of  Mr.  Cavendish  was  the  first  attempt 
by  chemists  to  collect  the  difljerent  kinds  of  air,  and 
endeavour  to  ascertain  their  nature.  Hence  all  his 
processes  were  in  some  measure  new :  they  served  as  a 
model  to  future  experimenters,  and  were  gradually 
brought  to  their  present  state  of  simplicity  and  per- 
fection. He  was  the  first  person  who  attempted  to  de- 
termine the  specific  gravity  of  airs,  by  comparing  their 
weight  .with  that  of  the  same  bulk  of  common  air; 
and  though  his  apparatus  was  defective,  yet  the  prin- 
ciple was-  good,  and  is  the  very  same  whidi  is  still  em- 
ployed to  accomplish  the  same  object.  Mr.  Caven- 
dish then  first  begaa  the  true  investigation,  of  gases^ 


I 


I 


344  HISTORY  OF   CHEMISTRY. 

and  in  his  first  paper  he  determined  the  peculiar  nati>-H 
of  two  very  remarkable  gases,  carboaic  and  hydrttg^it' 
2.  IHineral  waters  have  at  ail  times  attracted  the- 
ctttentlon  of  the  faculty  in  consequence  of  thM" 
peculiar  properties  and  medical  virtues.  Some  faiol 
steps  towards  their  investigation  were  taken  by  Boyle. 
Du  Clos  attempted  a  chemical  analysis  of  the  mineral 
waters  in  France ;  and  Hierne  made  a  similar  investi'- 
^tion  of  the  mineral  waters  of  Sweden.  Thonghtbeie 
experiments  were  rude  and  inaccurate,  they  led  to  -Uie 
knowledge  of  several  facts  respecting  mineral  waters 
which  chemists  were  unable  to  explain.  One  of  tlieie 
was  the  existence  of  a  considerable  quantity  of  ealea- 
Teoas  earth  in  some  mineral  waters,  which  was  precipe 
tated  by  boiling.  Nobody  could  conceive  in  whatwaV 
this  insoluble  substance  (carbonate  of  lime)  was  heltt 
in  solution,  nor  why  it  was  thrown  down  when  tiie  Wei- 
ter  was  raised  to  a  boiling  heat.  It  was  to  determine 
this  point  that  Mr.  Cavendish^ade  his  experiments  ott 
Rathbone-place  water,  which  were  published  in  the 
year  1767,  and  which  may  be  considered  as  the  first 
analysis  of  a  mineral  water  that  possessed  tolerable 
accuracy.      Rathbone-place  water   was  raised  by  b 

Sump,  and  supplied  the  portion  of  London  in  its  imnte- 
iate  neighbourhood.  Mr.  Cavendish  found  that  when 
boiled,  it  deposited  a  quantity  of  earthy  matter,  coi»- 
Bisting  chiefly  of  lime,  but  containing  also  a  llttb 
magnesia.  This  he  showed  was  held  in  solution  bjr 
fixed  air ;  and  he  proved  experimentally,  that  when  m, 
excess  of  this  gas  is  present,  it  has  the  property  rf 
holding  lime  and  magnesia  in  solution.*  Besides  tiiesa 
earthy  carbonates,  the  water  was  found  to  contain  a 
little  ammonia,  some  sulphate  of  lime,  and  some  com- 
mon salt.     Mr.  Cavendish  examined,  likewise,  botdb 

•  The  BBlts  lield  in  solulion  are  in  the  state  of  bicartionatal 

-~SDd  inBgimi&.    Boilin;;  drives  off  hnlf  the  carbonic  acid, 

lioipla  carbonBles  being  iuioiuble  are  piccipiuteit. 


CHEMISTRT   IS    GREAT  BRITAIX.  345 


I  wKr  pump- water  in  London,  and  showed  that  it  con- 
■  .binfid  lime,  held  in  solution  by  carbonic  acid, 
''W  3.  Dr.  Priestley,  at  a  pretty  early  period  of  his 
W  mmical  career,  had  discovered  that  when  nitrous  gas 
■r  ti  nixed  with  common  air  over  water,  a  diminution  of 
'''  fmlk  takes  place ;  that  there  ia  a  still  greater  diminu- 
tion  of  bulk  when  oxygen  gas  ia  employed  instead  of 
conunon  air ;  and  that  the  diminution  is  always  pro- 
portional to  the  quantity  of  oxygen  gas  present  in  the 
tgu  mixed  with  the  nitrous  gaa.  This  discovery  in- 
Sliced  him  to  employ  nitrous  gas  as  a  test  of  the 
ountity  of  oxygen  present  in  common  air;  and  various 
lottruments  were  contrived  to  facilitate  the  mixture  of 
the  gases,  and  the  measurement  of  the  diminution  of 
volume  which  took  place.  As  the  goodness  of  air,  or 
ils  fitness  to  support  combustion,  and  maintain  animal 
life,  was  conceived  to  depend  upon  the  proportion  of 
oxygen  gas  which  it  contained,  these  instruments  were 
distiDguished  by  the  name  of  eudiometers ;  the  sim- 
plest of  them  was  contrived  by  Fontana,  and  is  usually 
distinguished  by  the  name  oi  the  eudiometer  of  Fo»~ 
laiM.  Philosophers,  in  examining  air  by  means  of 
this  instrument,  at  various  seasons,  and  in  various 
places,  had  found  considerable  ditTerences  in  the  dimi- 
nution of  bulk  :  hence  they  inferred  that  the  propor- 
tion of  oxygen  varies  in  different  places ;  and  to  this 
variation  they  ascribed  the  healthiness  or  noxiousness 
of  particular  situations.  For  example.  Dr.  Ingenhousz 
had  found  a  greater  proportion  of  oxygen  in  the  air 
above  the  sea,  and  on  the  sea-coast ;  and  to  this  he 
ascribed  the  healthiness  of  maritiffie  situations.  Mr. 
Cavendish  examined  this  important  point  with  ht9 
usual  patient  industry  and  acute  discernment,  and 
published  the  result  in  the  Philosophical  Transactions 
for  1783.  He  ascertained  that  the  apparent  variations 
were  owing  to  inacoaracies  in  making  the  experiment ; 
and  that  when  the  recjuisite  precautions  are  taken,  the 
proportion  of  oxygen  in  aii  is  found  constant  in  all 


346  HISTORY   OF  CHEMXSTRT.      .  * 

places,  and  at  all  seasons.  This  conclusion  has  sin 
been  confirmed  by  numerous  observations  in  ever^ 
part  of  the  globe.  Mr.  Cavendish  also  analyzed, 
common  air,  and  found  it  to  consist  of 

79*16  volumes  azotic  gas, 
20*84  volumes  oxygen  gas. 


100*00 

4.  For  many  years  it  ^vas  the  opinion. of  chemists 
that  mercury  is  essentially  liquid,  and  that  no  degree 
of  cold  is  capable  of  congealing  it.  Professor  Braun's 
accidental  discovery  that  it  may  be  frozen  by  cold, 
like  other  liquids,  was  at  first  doubted ;  and  when  it 
was  finally  established  by  the  most  conclusive  experi-^ 
ments,  it  was  inferred  from  the  observations  of  Braun 
that  the  freezing  point-  of  mercury  is  several  hundred 
degrees  below  zero  on  Fahrenheit's  scale.  It  became 
an  object  of  great  importance  to  determine  the  exact 
point  of  the  congelation  of  this  metal  by  accurate  ex- 
periments. This  was  done  at  Hudson's  Bay,  by  Mr* 
Hutchins,  who  followed  a  set  of  directions  given  him 
by  Mr.  Cavendish,  and  from  his  experiments  Mr.  Ca- 
vendish, in  a  paper  inserted  in  the  Philosophical 
Transactions  for  1783,  deduced  that  the  freezing  point 
of  mercury  is  38*66  degrees  below  the  zero  of  Fahren- 
heit's thermometer. 

5.  These  experiments  naturally  drew  the  attention 
of  Mr.  Cavendish  to  the  phenomena  of  freezing,  to 
the  action  of  freezing  mixtures,  and  the  congelation  of 
acids.  He  emj^oyed  Mr.  M'Nab,  who  was  settled  in 
the  neighbourhooa  of  Hudson's  Bay,  to  make  the  re^ 
quisite  experiments;  and  he  published  two  very  curiom 
and  important  papers  on  these  subjects  in. the  Philor 
sophicsd  Transactions  for  1786  and  1788.  He  ex- 
plained the  phenomena  of  congelation  exactly  accord^^ 
ing  to  the  theory  of  Dr.  Black,  but  rejecting  the 
hypothesis,  that  heat  is  a  substance  iui  .generis^  aii4 


CH£MIfiTBT  IK   GREAT   BRITAIN.  347 

thmkiag  it  more  probable,  with  Sir  Isaac  Newton,  that 
k  is  owing  to  the  rapid  internal  motion  of  the  particles 
•of  the  hot  body.  The  latent  heat  of  water,  he  found 
to  be  150".  The  observations  on  the  congelation  of 
nitric  and  sulphuric  acids  are  highly  interesting :  he 
showed  that  their  freezing  points  vary  considerably* 
according  to  the  strength  of  each ;  and  drew  up  tables 
indicating  the  freezing  points  of  acids,  of  various  de-* 
grees  of  strength. 

6.  But  the  most  splendid  and  valuable  of  Mr.  Ca- 
vendishes chemical  experiments  were  published  in  two 
pc^rs,  entitled, "  Experiments  on  Air,"  in  the  Transac- 
tions of  the  Royal  Society  for  1784  and  1785.  The 
object  of  these  experiments  was  to  determine  what 
happened  during  the  phlogistication  of  air,  as  it  was 
at  tiiat  time  termed ;  that  is,  the  change  which  air 
underwent  .when  metals  were  calcined  in  contact  with 
it,  when  sulphur  or  phosphorus  was  burnt  in  it,  and 
in  several  similar  processes.  He  showed,  in  the  first 
place,  that  there  was  no  reason  for  supposing  that 
carbonic  acid  was  formed,  except  when  some  animal 
or  vegetable  substance  was  present ;  that  when  hydro* 
gen  gas  was  burnt  in  contact  with  air  or  oxygen  gas^ 
it  combined  with  that  gas,  and  formed  water ;  that 
n^rous  gas,  by  combining  with  the  oxygen  of  the  at- 
mosphere, formed  nitrous  acid ;  and  that  when  oxygen 
and  azotic  gas  are  mixed  in  the  requisite  proportions, 
and  electric  sparks  passed  through  the  mixture,  they 
combine,  and  form  nitric  acid. 

The  first  of  these  opinions  occasioned  a  controversy, 
between  Mr.  Cavendish,  and  Mr.  Kirwan,  who  main- 
tained that  carbonic  acid  is  always  produced  when  air 
is  phlogisticated.  Two  papers  on  this  subject  by 
Kirwan,  and  one  by  Cavendish,  are  inserted  in  the 
Philosophical  Transactions  for  1784,  each  remarkable 
examples  of  the  peculiar  manner  of  the  respective 
writers;  All  the  arguments  of  Kirwan  are  founded 
tOL  the  experiments  ^f  others.  He-displays  great  read- 


I 

I 


HISTOKT  or   CBEMtBTHT. 

ing,  and  a  stron|  memory ;  but  does  not  discriminEtte 
between  the  merits  of  the  chemists  on  whose  authority 
he  founds  his  opinions.  Mr.  Cavendish,  on  the  other 
hand,  never  advances  a  single  opinion,  which  he  ha» 
not  put  to  the  test  of  experiment ;  and  never  suffers 
himself  to  go  any  further  than  his  experiment  will 
warrant.  Whatever  is  not  accurately  determined  by' 
unexceptionable  trials,  is  merely  stated  as  a  conjecture 
on  which  little  strras  is  laid. 

In  the  first  of  these  celebrated  papers,  Mr.  Caven- 
dish has  drawn  a  comparison  between  the  phlogistio 
and  antiphlogistic  theories  of  chemistry  ;  he  has  shown 
that  each  of  them  is  capable  of  explaining  the  pheno* 
mena  in  a  satisfactory  manner  ;  though  it  is  impossible 
to  demonstrate  the  truth  of  either ;  and  he  has  given 
the  reasons  which  induced  him  to  prefer  the  phli^stic 
theory^reasons  which  the  French  chemists  were  una- 
ble to  refute,  and  which  they  were  wise  enough  not  to 
notice.  There  cannot  be  a  more  striking  proof  of  the 
influence  of  fashion,  even  in  science,  and  of  the  un- 
warrantable precipitation  with  which  opinions  ara 
rejected  or  embraced  by  philosophers,  than  the  total 
inattention  paid  by  the  chemical  world  to  this  admira- 
ble dissertation.  Had  Mr.  Kirwan  adopted  the  opt* 
nionsofMr.  Cavendish, when  he  undertook  the  defence 
of  phlogiston,  instead  of  trusting  to  the  vague  expe- 
riments of  inaccurate  chemists,  he  would  not  have 
been  obliged  to  yield  to  his  French  antagonists,  and  i 
the  antiphlogistic  theory  would  not  so  speedily  have 
gained  ground. 

Such  is  an  epitome  of  the  chemical  papers  of  Mr. 
Cavendish.  They  contain  five  notable  discoveries  j 
namely,  1 .  The  nature  and  properties  of  hydrogen  gas. 
2.  The  solubility  of  bicarbonates  of  lime  and  magnesia 
in  water.  3.  The  exact  proportion  of  the  constituent* 
of  common  air.  4,  The  composition  of  water.  5,  Thft 
composition  of  nitric  acid.  It  is  to  him  also  thatwft 
are  indebted  for  our  knowledge  of  the  freezing  point 


CHEMISVllY  IK  GREAT   BRITAIN.  349 

of  mercury ;  and  he  was  likewise  the  first  person  who 
showed  that  potash  has  a  stronger  affinity  for  acids 
than  soda  has.  His  experiments  on  the  subject  are  to 
be^Jbttnd  in  a  paper  on  Mineral  Waters,  published 
in  the  Philosophical  Transactions,  by  Dr.  Donald 
Mdnro. 


END   OF   VOL.    I. 


C.  WHrnNO,  BBAUFOBT  H0U8S,  STKAMD. 


THE 


HISTORY 


OF 


CHEMISTRY. 


BY 

THOMAS    THOMSON,    M.D. 

F.R.S.  L.  &  E. ;  F.L.S. ;  F.G.S.,  &C. 
RBOIU8  PROPBSSOR  OF  CHBMfSTRY  IN  TRB  UNIVBRSITT  OF  OLASOOVT. 


IN   TWO    VOLUMES. 
VOL.    II. 


LONDON: 
HENRY  COLBURN  AND  RICHARD  BENTLEY, 

NEW  BURLINGTON    STREET. 

1831.  ,j 


(  .  WHITING,   BBAUVOUT  HOUSB,  STRAND. 


CONTENTS 
or 
THE    SECOND    VOLUME. 


CHAPTER   I. 

Page 
Of  tbe  foundation  and  progress  of  scientific  chemistry  in  Great 
Britain  ....... 


CHAPTER    II. 
Progress  of  scientific  chemistry  in  France  .  .75 

CHAPTER    III. 
Progress  of  analytical  chemistry  .190 

CHAPTER    IV. 
Of  dectro-chemistry  .  .    S51 

CHAPTER    V. 

Of  the  atomic  theory     .  .  .  .  -    VI 

CHAPTER    VI. 

Of  the  present  state  of  chemistry         .  .  .  .  .309 


HISTORY   OF  CHEMISTRY, 


CHAPTER  I. 

OF  THB   FOUNDATION   AND   P&00&E8S   OF  SCIENTIFIC 
CHEMISTKT   IN   GREAT  BRITAIN. 

While  Mr.  Cavendish  was  extending  the 
bounds  of  pneumatic  chemistry,  with  the  caution 
and  precision  of  a  Newton,  Dr.  Priestley,  who  had 
entered  on  the  same  career,  was  proceeding  with  a 
degree  pf  rapidity  quite  unexampled ;  while  from  his 
happy  talents  and  inventive  faculties,  he  con- 
tributed no  less  essentially  to  the  progress  of  the 
science,  and  certainly  more  than  any  other  British 
chemist  to  its  popularity. 

Joseph  Priestley  was  bom  in  1733,  at  Fieldhead, 
about  six  miles  from  Leeds  in  Yorkshire.  His  father, 
Jonas  Priestley,  was  a  maker  and  dresser  of  wool- 
len cloth,  and  his  mother,  the  only  child  of  Joseph 
Swift  a  farmer  in  the  neighbourhood.  Dr.  Priest- 
ley was  the  eldest  child;  and,  his  mother  having 
children  very  fast,  he  was  soon  committed  to  the 
care  of  his  maternal  grandfather.  He  lost  his 
mother  when  he  was  only  six  years  of  age,  and  was 
soon   after  taken  home  by  his  father  and  sent  to 

VOL.  II.  B 


2  HISTORY   OF   CHZXISTRT. 

school  in  the  neiirhbonrhood.  His  father  being  but 
poor,  and  encumbered  with  a  large  family,  bis  sister, 
Mrs.  Kei^hley.  a  woman  in  eood  circumstances^ 
and  without  children,  relieved  him  of  all  care  of  his 
eldest  son,  by  taking  hipi  and  bringing  him  up  as 
her  own.  She  was  a  dissenter,  and  her  house  was 
the  resort  of  all  the  dissenting  clergy  in  the  country. 
Young  Joseph  was  sent  to  a  public  school  in  the 
neighbourhood,  and,  at  sixteen,  had  made  con- 
siderable progress  in  Latin,  Greek,  and  Hebrew. 
Having  shown  a  passion  for  books  and  for  learning  at 
a  very  early  age,  his  aunt  conceived  hopes  that  he 
-u'ould  one  xlay  become  a  dissenting  clergyman, 
ii'hich  she  considered  as  the  first  of  all  professions; 
and  he  entered  eagerly  into  her  views:  but  his 
health  declining  about  this  period,  and  something 
like  phthisical  symptoms  having  come  on,  he  was 
advised  to  turn  his  thoughts  to  trade,  and  to  settle 
as  a  merchant  in  Lisbon.  This  induced  him  to  apply 
to  the  modem  languages;  and  he  learned  French, 
Italian,  and  Grerman,  without  a  master.  RecoTCF* 
ing  his  health,  he  abandoned  his  new  scheme  and 
resumed  his  former  plan  of  becoming  a  clergymaiu 
In  1752  he  was  sent  to  the  academy  of  Daventry, 
to  study  under  Dr.  Ashworth,  the  successor  of  Dr. 
Doddridge.  He  had  already  made  some  progress 
in  mechanical  philosophy  and  metaphysics,  and 
dipped  into  Chaldee ,  Syriac ,  and  Arabic.  At  Daven- 
try he  spent  three  years,  engaged  keenly  in  studies 
connected  with  divinity,  and  wrote  some  of  his 
earliest  theological  tracts.  Freedom  of  discussion 
was  admitted  to  its  full  extent  in  this  academy. 
The  two  masters  espoused  different  sides  upon  mo«t 
controversial  subjects,  and  the  scholars  were  divided 
into  two  parties,  nearly  equally  balanced.  The  dis- 
cussions, however,  were  conducted  with  perfect  good 
humour  on  both  sides;  and  Dr.  Priestley,  as  he  tells 


CHElIIffni7  IK   GREAT   BRITAIK.  3 

OS  luDueif,  uenally  sapported  the  heterodox  optnkm  ; 
but  he  never  at  any  time,  as  he  assnres  ns,  advanced 
ailments  ivhich  he  did  not  believe  to  be  good,  or 
supported  an  opinion  which  he  did  not  consider  as 
true.  Wlien  he  left  the  academy,  he  settled  at 
Needham  in  Suffolk,  as  an  assistant  in  a  small  obscure 
dissenting  meeting-house,  where  his  income  never  ex- 
ceeded 30/.  a-year.  His  hearers  fell  off,  in  conse- 
quence of  their  dislike  of  his  theological  opinions; 
auid  his  income  underwent  a  corresponding  diminu- 
tion. He  attempted  a  school;  but  his  scheme  fuled 
of  success,  owing  to  the  bad  opinion  which  his 
neighbours  entertained  of  his  orthodoxy.  His  situ- 
ation would  have  been  desperate,  had  he  not  been 
occasionally  relieved  by  sums  out  of  charitable 
funds,  procured  by  means  of  Dr.  Benson,  and  Dr.  ' 

IS. 

Several  vacancies  occurred  in  his  vicinity;  but  he 
was  treated  with  contempt,  and  thought  unworthy  to 
£U  any  of  them.  Even  the  dissenting  clergy  in  the 
neighbourhood  thought  it  a  degradation  to  associate 
with  him,  and  durst  not  ask  him  to  preach :  not  from  any 
dislike  to  his  theological  opinions;  for  several  of  them 
thought  as  freely  as  he  did ;  but  because  the  genteeler 
part  of  their  audience  always  absented  themselves 
when  he  appeared  in  the  pulpit. .  A  good  many 
years  afterwards,  as  he  informs  us  himself,  when  his 
repulation  was  very  high,  he  preached  in  the  same 
place,  and  multitudes  flocked  to  hear  the  very  same 
sermons,  which  they  had  formerly  listened  to  with 
contempt  and  dislike. 

His  friends  being  aware  of  the  disagreeable  nature 
of  his  situation  at  Needham,  were  upon  the  alert  to 
procure  him  a  better.  In  1758,  in  consequence  o 
the  interest  of  Mr.  Gill,  he  was  invited  to  appear  as 
a  candidate  for  a  meeting-house  in  Sheffield,  vacant 
by  the  resignation  of  Mr.  Wadsworth.     He  appear- 

b2 


I 


HISTORY  or  CHBMIBTHT. 

ed  accordingly  and  preached,  but  was  not  approved 
of.  Mr.  Haynes,  the  other  minister,  offered  to  pro- 
cure him  a  meeting-house  at  Nantwich  in  Cheshire. 
This  situation  he  accepted,  and,  to  save  expenses,  he 
went  from  Needham  to  London  by  sea.  Ai  Nant- 
wich he  continued  three  jeara,  and  spent  his  time 
much  more  agreeably  than  he  had  doneat  Needham. 
His  opinions  were  not  obnoxious  to  his  hearers,  and 
controversial  discussions  were  never  introduced. 
Here  he  established  a  school,  and  found  the  business 
of  teaching,  contrary  to  his  expectation,  an  agreeable 
and  even  interesting  employment.  He  taught  from 
seven  in  the  morning,  till  four  in  the  afternoon;  and 
after  the  school  was  dismissed,  he  went  to  the  house 
of  Mr.  TomlinsoD,  an  eminent  attorney  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood, where  he  taught  privately  till  seven  ia 
the  evening.  Being  thus  engaged  twelve  bouis 
every  day  in  teaching,  he  had  little  time  for  privata 
study.  It  is,  indeed,  scarcely  conceivable  how, 
under  such  circumstances,  he  could  prepare  himself 
for  Sunday.  Here,  however,  his  circumstances 
began  to  mend.  At  Needham  it  required  the  ut- 
most economy  to  keep  out  of  debt;  but  at  Nant- 
wich, he  was  able  to  purchase  a  few  books  and  some 
philosophical  instruments,  as  a.  small  air-pump,  ao 
electrical  machine,  &c.  These  he  taught  his  eldest 
scholars  to  keep  in  order  and  manage :  and  by 
entertaining  their  parents  and  friends  with  experi- 
ments, in  which  the  scholars  were  generally  the 
operators,  and  sometimes  the  lecturers  too,  he  con- 
siderably extended  the  reputation  of  his  seliool.  It 
was  at  Nantwich  that  he  wrote  his  grammar  for  the 
use  of  his  school,  a  book  of  considerable  merit, 
though  its  circulation  uas  never  extensive.  This 
latter  circumstance  was  probably  owing  to  the 
superior  reputation  of  Dr.  Lowth,  who  published 
his  well-known  grammar  about  two  years  afterwards. 


CHEMISTRY   IN   GREAT   BaiTAlN.  ^" 

Bein^  boarded  in  the  house  of  Mr.  Eddowea,  a 
very  sociable  and  sensible  man,  and  a  lover  of 
music,  Dr.  Priestley  was  induced  to  play  a  little  on 
the  English  flute ;  and  though  he  never  was  a  pro- 
ficient, he  informs  us  that  it  contributed  more  or 
less  to  his  amusement  for  many  years.  He  recom- 
mends the  knowledge  and  practice  of  music  to  all 
studious  persons,  and  thinks  it  rather  an  advantage 
for  them  if  they  have  no  fine  ear  or  exquisite  taste, 
as  they  will,  in  consequence,  be  more  easily  pleased, 
and  less  apt  to  be  offended  when  the  performances 
tiiey  hear  are  but  indifferent. 

The  academy  at  Warrington  was  instituted  while 
Dr.  Priestley  was  at  Needham,  and  he  was  recom- 
mended by  Mr.  Clark,  Dr.  Benson,  and  Dr.  Taylor, 
as  tutor  m  the  languages;  but  Dr.  Aiken,  whose 

S|naliti cations  were  considered  as  superior,  was  pre- 
erred  before  him.  However,  on  the  death  of  Dr. 
Taylor,  and  the  advancement  of  Dr.  Aiken  to  be 
tutor  in  divinity,  he  was  invited  to  succeed  bim : 
this  offer  he  accepted,  though  his  school  at  Nant- 
wich  was  likely  to  be  more  gainful;  for  the  em- 
ployment at  Warrington  was  more  liberal  and  less 
painful.  In  this  situation  he  continued  six  years, 
actively  employed  in  teaching  and  in  literary  pur- 
suits. Here  he  wrote  a  variety  of  works,  particu- 
larly his  History  of  Electricity,  which  first  brought 
him  into  notice  as  an  experimental  philosopher,  and 
procured  him  celebrity.  After  the  publication  of 
this  work.  Dr.  Percival  of  Manchester,  then  a  stu- 
dent at  Edinburgh,  procured  him  the  title  of  doctor 
in  laws,  from  that  university.  Here  he  married  a 
daughter  of  Mr.  Isaac  Wilkinson,  an  ironmonger  in 
Wales;  a  woman  whose  qualities  he  has  highly  ex- 
tolled, and  who  died  after  he  went  to  America, 
In  the  academy  he  spent  his  time  very  happily, 
rjbat  it  did  not  flourish.     A  quarrel  had  broken  out 


between  Dr.  Taylor  and  the  trusteea,  in  consequence 
of  which  all  the  friends  of  that  genlJeman  were  ho*- 
tile  to  the  institution.  This,  together  with  the  small- 
new  of  his  income,  lOOi.  a-year,  and  152.  for  each 
boarder,  which  precluded  him  from  malcin^  any  pro- 
vision for  his  family,  induced  htm  to  accept  an 
invitation  to  take  charge  of  Millhill  chapel,  at 
Leeds,  where  he  had  a  conBiderable  acquaintance, 
and  to  which  he  reraoved  in  1767, 

Here  he  engaged  keenly  in  the  study  of  theolt^y, 
and  produced  a  great  number  of  works,  many  c^ 
them  controversial.  Here,  too,  he  commenced  bis  { 
great  chemical  career,  and  published  his  first  tract 
on  air.  He  was  led  accidentally  to  think  of  pneo-' 
matic  chemistry,  by  living  in  the  immediate  vicinity 
of  a  brewery.  Here,  too,  he  published  his  history 
of  the  Discoveries  relative  to  light  and  Colours,  as 
the  first  part  of  a  general  history  of  experimental 
philosophy;  but  the  expense  of  this  book  was  so 
great,  and  its  sale  so  limited,  that  he  did  not  venture 
to  prosecute  the  undertaking.  Here,  likewise,  he 
commenced  and  published  three  volumes  of  a  peri« 
odical  work,  entitled  "  The  Theological  Repository," 
which  he  continued  after  he  settled  in  Birmingham, 

After  he  had  been  six  years  at  Leeds,  the  Earl  ot 
Shelbumc  (afterwards  Marquis  of  Lansdowne), 
engaged  him,  on  the  recommendation  of  Dr.  Pric^ 
to  live  with  him  as  a  kind  of  librarian  and  literary 
companion,  at  a  salary  of  2501.  a-year,  with  a  house. 
With  his  lordship  he  travelled  tlirough  Holland^ 
France,  and  a  part  of  Germany,  and  spent  some 
time  in  Paris.  He  was  delighted  with  this  excur- 
sion, and  expressed  himself  thoroughly  convinced 
of  the  great  advantages  to  be  derived  from  foreign 
travel.  The  men  of  science  and  poiiticiana  ia 
Paris  were  unbelievers,  and  even  professed  atheista, 
and  as  Dr.  Priestley  chose  to  appear  befoi'c  them  ae 


CHEMISTUT   IK   GREAT   BRITAIN.  7 

a  Chriatian,  they  told  him  that  he  was  the  first  per- 
son they  had  met  with,  of  whose  understanding  they 
had  any  opinion,  who  was  a  beheyer  of  Christianity ; 
but,  upon  interrogating  them  closely ,  he  found  that 
none  of  them  had  any  knowledge  either  of  the  na<- 
ture  or  principles  of  the  Christian  religion. — While 
¥rith  Lord  Shelbume,  he  published  the  first  three 
volumes  of  his  Experiments  on  Air,  and  had  col- 
lected materials  for  a  fourth,  which  he  published 
soon  after  settling  in  Birmingham.  At  this  time 
also  he  published  his  attack  upon  Drs.  Reid,  Beattie, 
and  Oswald;  a  book  which,  he  tells  us,  he  finished 
in  a  fortnight:  but  of  which  he  afterwards,  in  some 
measure,  disapproved.  Indeed,  it  was  impossible 
ioT  any  person  of  candour  to  approve  of  the  style  of 
that  work,  and  the  way  in  which  he  treated  Dr. 
Reidy  a  philosopher  certainly  much  mote  deeply 
skilled  than  himself  in  metaphysics. 

After  some  years  Lord  Shelbume  began  to  be  weary 
of  his  associate,  and,  on  his  expressing  a  wish  to 
settle  him  in  Ireland,  Dr.  Priestley  of  his  own  accord 
proposed  a  separation,  to  which  his  lordship  con- 
sented, after  settling  on  him  an  annuity  of  160/.^ 
according  to  a  previous  stipulation.  This  annuity 
ke  continued  regularly  to  pay  during  the  remainder 
of  the  life  of  Dr.  Priestley. 

His  income  being  much  diminished  by  his  sepa- 
ration from  Lord  Shelburne,  and  his  family  increas- 
ing, he  found  it  now  difficult  to  support  himself.  At 
this  time  Mrs.  Rayner  made  him  very  considerable 
presents,  particularly  at  one  period  a  sum  of  400/. ; 
and  she  continued  her  contributions  to  him  almost 
annually.  Dr.  Fothergill  had  proposed  a  subscrip- 
tion, in  order  that  he  might  prosecute  his  experiments 
to  their  utmost  extent,  and  be  enabled  to  live  with- 
out sacrificing  his  time  to  his  pupils.  This  he 
accepted.  It  amounted  at  first  to  40/.  per  annum^ 
and  was  afterwards  much  increased.     Dr.  Watson^ 


Mr  Wedgewoot],  Mr.  Galton,  and  four  or  five  more, 
were  the  gentlemen  who  joined  with  Dr.  Fothergill 
in  this  generous  Bubscription. 

Soon  after,  he  settled  in  a  meeting-house  in  Bir- 
mingham, and  continued  for  several  years  engaged 
in  theological  and  chemical  investigations.  His  Bp< 
paratus,  by  the  liberality  of  his  friends,  had  become 
excellent,  and  his  income  was  so  good  that  he 
could  prosecute  his  researches  to  their  full  extent. 
Here  he  published  the  three  last  volumes  of  hi» 
Experiments  on  Air,  and  various  papers  on  the 
same  subject  in  the  Philosophical  Transactions, 
Here,  too,  he  continued  his  Theological  Repository, 
and  published  a  variety  of  tracts  on  his  peculiar 
opinions  ill  religion,  and  upou  the  history  of  thfl 
primitive  church.  He  now  unluckily  engaged  in 
controversy  with  the  established  clergy  of  the  place; 
and  expressed  his  opinions  on  political  subjects  witJte 
a  degree  of  freedom,  which,  though  it  would  have 
been  of  no  consequence  at  any  former  period,  was  ill 
suited  to  the  peculiar  circumstances  that  were  intro- 
duced into  this  country  by  the  French  revolution,  and 
to  the  political  maxims  of  Mr.  Pitt  and  his  administnt' 
tion.  His  answer  to  Mr.  Burke's  book  on  the  French 
revolution  excited  the  violent  indignation  of  that 
extraordinary  man,  who  inveighed  ^;ainst  his 
character  repeatedly,  and  with  peculiar  virulence,  iu. 
the  house  of  commons.  The  cleigy  of  the  church' 
of  England,  too,  who  began  about  this  time  to  bft" 
alarmed  for  their  establishment,  of  which  Dr.  Priest-; 
ley  was  the  open  enemy,  were  particularly  active; 
the  press  teemed  with  their  productions  against  him,' 
and  the  minds  of  their  hearers  seem  to  have  beea> 
artificially  excited;  indeed  some  of  the  anecdote* 
told  of  the  conduct  of  the  clergy  of  Birmingham, 
were  highly  unbecoming  their  character.  Unfor- 
tunately, Dr.  Priestley  did  not  seem  to  be  aware  of- 
the  state  of  the  nation,  and  of  the  plan  of  conduct 


■  oft 


laid  down  by  Mr,  Pilt  and  liis  political  friends . 

lie  was  too  fond  of  controversial  discussions  to  yield 

tamely  to  the  attacks  of  his  antagonists; 

These  circumstances  seem  in  some  measure  to 
^ilaia  the  disgraceful  riots  which  took  place  in 
lirmingham  in  1791,  on  the  day  of  the  anniversary 
of  the  French  revolution-  Dr.  Priestley's  meeting- 
house and  his  dwelting-house  were  burnt;  his 
library  and  apparatus  destroyed,  and  many  manu- 
Bcripts,  tbe  fruits  of  several  years  of  indusliy,  were 
f^nsnmed  in  the  conflagration.  The  houses  of 
several  of  his  friends  shared  the  same  fate,  and  his 
son  narrowly  escaped  death,  by  the  care  of  a  friend 
■who  forcibly  concealed  him  for  several  days.  Dr. 
Priestley  was  obliged  to  make  his  escape  to  London, 
and  a  seat  was  taken  for  him  in  the  mail-coach 
under  a  borrowed  name.  Such  was  the  ferment 
against  him  that  it  was  believed  he  would  not  have 
been  safe  any  where  else ;  and  his  friends  would  not 
allow  him,  for  several  weeks,  to  walk  through  the 
Streets. 
«■  He  was  invited  to  Hackney,  to  succeed  Dr. 
^B^ice  in  the  meeting-house  of  that  place.  He 
^Mecepted  the  office,  but  such  was  the  dread  of  his 
^Snpopularity,  that  nobody  would  let  him  a  house, 
hoia  an  apprehension  that  it  would  be  burnt  by  the 
populace  as  soon  as  it  was  known  that  he  inhabited 
it.  He  was  obliged  to  get  a  friend  to  take  a  lease 
of  a  house  in  another  name ;  and  it  was  with  the 
utmost  difficulty  that  he  could  prevail  with  the 
landlord  to  allow  the  lease  to  be  transferred  to  him. 
The  members  of  the  Royal  Society,  of  which  he  was 
'  ■■  7,  declined  admitting  him  into  their  company  ; 
.  was  obliged  to  withdraw  his  name  from  the 

n  we  look  back  upon  this  treatment  of  a  man 
r.  Priestley's  character,  after  an  interval  of  forty 


nd  1 

M  I 


BtSVOKT  or   CHUnSTRT. 


I 


years,  it  cannot  fail  to  strike  ua  with  astonishment ; 
and  it  must  be  owned,  I  think,  that  it  reflects  an 
indelible  stain  upon  that  period  of  the  histtwy  of 
Great  Britain.  To  suppose  that  he  was  in  Uie  least 
degree  formidable  to  so  powerful  a  body  as  tlut 
chufch  of  Eng-land,  backed  as  it  was  by  the 
aristocracy,  by  the  ministry,  and  by  the  opinions 
of  the  people,  is  perfectly  ridicnious.  His  theo- 
logical sentiments,  indeed,  were  very  different  from 
those  of  the  established  church  ;  but  so  were  those 
of  Milton,  Locke,  and  Newton.  Nay,  some  of  ths 
members  of  the  church  itself  entertained  opinions, 
not  indeed  so  decided  or  so  openly  expressed  as.' 
those  of  Dr.  Priestley,  but  certainly  having  the  ssma, 
tendency.  To  be  satisfied  of  this  it  is  only  neceS" 
sary  to  recollect  the  book  which  Dr.  Clarke  pub- 
lished on  the  Trinity.  Nay,  some  of  the  bishops, 
unless  they  are  very  much  belied,  entertained 
opinions  similar  to  those  of  Dr.  Clarke.  The  same 
observation  applies  to  Dr.  Lardner,  Dr.  Price,  and 
many  others  of  the  dissenters.  Yet,  the  church  of  ■ 
England  never  attempted  to  peraecute  these  re- 
■pectabiti  and  meritorious  men,  nor  did  they  con- 
sider their  opinions  as  at  all  likely  to  endanger  ths 
stability  of  the  church.  Besides,  Dr.  Horsley  had 
taken  up  the  pen  against  Dr.  Priestley's  theological 
opinions,  and  had  refuted  them  so  completely  in  tbs 
opinion  of  the  members  of  the  church,  that  it  wa« 
thought  right  to  reward  his  meritorious  services  bf 
a  bishopric. 

It  could  hardly,  therefore,  be  the  dread  of  Dr< 
Priestley's  theological  opinions  that  induced  ths 
clergy  of  the  church  of  England  to  bestir  them'* 
selves  against  him  with  such  alacrity.  Erroneom 
opinions  advanced  and  refuted,  so  far  from  beiiiv 
injurious,  have  a  powerful  tendency  to  support  and 
strengthen  the    cause  which  they   were  meant  to 


CHEMISTRT  IW   GREAT  BRITAIN-.  II 

overturn.  Or,  if  there  existed  any  latent  suspicion 
that  the  refutation  of  Horsley  was  not  so  complete 
as  had  been  alleged,  surely  persecution  was  not 
the  best  means  of  supporting  weak  arguments  ;  and 
indeed  it  was  rather  calculated  to  draw  the  attention 
of  mankind  to  the  theological  opinions  of  Priestley  ; 
as  has  in  fact  been  the  consequence. 

Neither  can  the  persecutions  which  Dr.  Priestley 
was  subjected  to  be  accounted  for  by  his  political 
opinions,  even  supposing  it  not  to  be  true,  that  in  a 
free  country  like  Great  Britain,  any  man  is  at 
liberty  to  maintain  whatever  theoretic  opinions  of 
government  he  thinks  proper,  provided  he  be  a 
peaceable  subject  and  obey  rigorously  all  the  laws 
ofhis  country. 

Dr.  Priestley  was  an  advocate  for  the  perfectibility 
of  the  human  species,  or  at  least  its  continually  in- 
creasing tendency  to  improvement — a  doctrine  ex- 
tremely pleasing  in  itself,  and  warmly  supported  by 
Franklin  and  Price  ;  but  which  the  wild  principles 
of  Condorcet,  Godwin,  and  Beddoes  at  last  brought 
into  discredit.  This  doctrine  was  taught  by  Priestley 
in  the  outset  of  bis  Treatise  on  Civil  Government, 
first  published  in  176S.  It  is  a  speculation  of  so 
very  agreeable  a  nature,  so  congeniaJ  to  our  warmest 
wishes,  and  so  flattering  to  the  prejudices  of  hu- 
manity, that  one  feels  much  pain  at  being  obliged  to 
give  It  up.  Perhaps  it  may  be  true,  and  I  am  willing 
to  hope  so,  that  improvements  once  made  are  never 
entirely  lost,  unless  they  are  superseded  by  some- 
thing much  more  advantageous,  and  that  therefore 
the  knowledge  of  the  human  race,  upon  the  whole, 
is  progressive.  But  political  establishments,  at  least 
if  we  are  to  judge  from  the  past  history  of  mankind, 
have  their  uniform  periods  of  progress  and  decay. 
Nations  seem  incapable  of  profiting  by  experience. 
Every  nation  seems  destined  to  run  the  same  career. 


and  the  history  may  be  comprehended  under  the 
following  heads  :  Poverty,  liberty,  industry,  wealth, 
power,  dissipation,  anarchy,  destruction.  We  havs 
no  example  in  history  of  a  nation  running  throagh 
this  career  and  again  recovering  its  energy  and  import- 
ance. Greece  ran  through  it  more  than  two  dioa- 
sand  years  ago  :  she  has  been  in  a  state  of  slavery 
ever  since.  An  opportunity  is  now  at  last  given  her 
of  recovering  her  importance  :  posterity  will  ascer- 
tain whether  she  wil  lembrace  it. 

Dr.  Priestley's  short  Essay  on  the  First  Principles 
of  Civil  Government  was  published  in  1768.  In  it 
he  lays  down  as  the  foundation  of  his  reasoning, 
that  "  it  must  be  understood,  whether  it  be  ex- 
pressed or  not,  that  all  people  live  in  society  for 
their  mutual  advantage  ;  so  that  the  good  and 
happiness  of  the  members,  that  is  the  majority  of 
the  members  of  any  state,  is  the  great  standara  by 
which  every  thing  relating  to  that  state  must  be 
finally  determined  ;  and  tliough  it  may  be  supposed 
that  a  body  of  [jeople  may  be  bound  by  a  voluntary 
resignation  of  all  their  rights  to  a  single  person  or  tb 
a  few,  it  can  never  be  supposed  that  the  resignatioa 
is  obligatory  on  their  posterity,  because  it  is  mani- 
festly contrary  to  the  good  of  the  whole  that  it  should 
be  so."  From  this  first  principle  he  deduces  all  hii 
political  maxims.  Kings,  senators,  and  nobles,  are 
merely  the  servants  of  the  public  ;  and  when  they 
abuse  their  power,  in  the  people  lies  the  right  of 
deposing  and  consequently  of  punishing  them.  Ho 
examines  the  expediency  of  hereditary  sovereignty, 
of  hereditary  rank  and  privileges,  of  the  duration 
of  parliament,  and  of  the  right  of  voting,  with  an 
evident  tendency  to  democratical  principles,  thoagh 
faedoes  not  express  himself  very  el  early  onthe  subject 

Such  were  his  political  principles  in  1768, 
when   his  book  was  published.      They  excited  no 


CHEMISTRY    IN    GREAT   BRITAIS.  13 

alarm  and  drew  but  little  attention  ;  these  principles 
lie  maintained  ever  after,  or  indeed  he  may  be 
Stid  to  have  become  more  moderate  instead  of 
violent.  Though  he  approved  of  a  republic  in  the 
abstract ;  yet,  considering  the  prejudices  and  habits 
tif  the  people  of  Great  Britain,  he  laid  it  down  as  a 
principle  that  their  present  form  of  government  was 
best  suited  to  them.  He  thought,  however,  that 
there  should  be  a  reform  in  parliament ;  and  that 
parliaments  should  be  triennial  instead  of  septennial. 
He  was  an  enemy  to  all  violent  reforms,  and  thought 
that  the  change  ought  to  be  brought  about  gradually 
and  peaceably.  When  the  French  revolution  broke 
out  he  took  the  side  of  the  patriots,  as  he  had  done 
during  the  American  war ;  and  he  wrote  a  refuta- 
tion of  Mr.  Burke's  extraordinary  performance. 
Being  a  dissenter,  it  is  needless  to  say  that  he  was 
an  advocate  for  complete  religious  freedom.  He 
was  ever  hostile  to  all  religious  establishments,  and 
an  open  enemy  to  the  church  of  England. 

How  far  these  opinions  were  just  and  right  this 
is  not  the  place  to  inquire ;  but  that  they  were 
perfectly  harmless,  and  that  many  other  persons  tn 
this  country  during  the  last  century,  and  even  at 
present,  have  adopted  similar  opmions  without  in- 
curring any  odium  whatever,  and  without  exciting 
the  jealousy  or  even  the  attention  of  government, 
is  well  known  to  every  person.  It  comes  then  to 
be  a  question  of  some  curiosity  at  least,  to  what 
we  are  to  ascribe  the  violent  persecutions  raised 
against  Dr.  Priestley.  It  seems  to  have  been  owing 
chiefly  to  the  alarm  caught  by  the  clergy  of  the 
established  church  that  their  establishment  waa  in 
danger; — and, considering  the  ferment  excited  sooa 
after  the  breaking  out  of  the  French  revolution, 
and  the  rage  for  reform,  which  pervaded  all  ranks, 
the  almost  general  alarm  of  the  aristocracy,  at  least, 


ItlSTOltT  OF   CBSXISTKT. 

was  not  entirely  without  foundatioi 
however,  admit  that  tliere  was  occasion  for  the  violent 
alarm  caught  by  Mr.  Pitt  and  his  political  friendaj 
and  for  the  very  despotic  measures  i^rhich  they 
adopted  in  consequence.  The  disease  would  pro.  , 
bobiy  have  subsided  of  itself,  or  it  would  hart 
been  cured  by  a  much  gentler  treatment.  As  Dr. 
Priestley  was  an  open  enemy  to  the  establiihmentt 
its  clerg;y  naturally  conceived  a  prejudice  against 
hhn,  and  this  prejudice  was  \iolently  inflamed-  by 
the  danger  to  which  they  thought  themselves  ex- 
•  posed;  their  influence  with  the  ministry  was  very 
great,  and  Mr.  Pitt  and  his  friends  naturally  caugU 
their  prejudices  and  opinions.  Mr.  Burke,  too,  who 
had  changed  his  political  principles,  and  who  i 
inflamed  with  the  burning  zeal  which  distluguishei 
all  converts,  was  provoked  at  Dr.  Priestley's  answer 
to  his  book  on  the  French  revolution,  and  took 
every  opportunity  to  inve^h  against  him  in  tbv 
house  of  commons.  The  conduct  of  the  Frencb^ 
likewise,  who  made  Dr.  Priestley  a  citizen  of  France, 
and  chose  him  a  member  of  their  assembly,  tfaau^ 
intended  as  a  compliment,  vas  injurious  to  him  ia 
Great  Britain.  It  was  laid  hold  of  by  his  an- 
tagonists to  convince  the  people  that  he  was  an 
enemy  to  his  country;  that  he  had  abjured  bv 
rights  as  an  Englishman  ;  and  that  he  had.  adopted 
the  principles  of  the  hereditary  enemies  of  Great 
Britain.  These  causes,  and  not  his  political  opiniona^ 
appear  to  me  to  account  for  the  persecution  which 
was  raised  a^inst  him. 

His  sons,  disgusted  with  this  persecution  of  their 
father,  had  renounced  their  native  country  and  gone 
over  to  France ;  and,  on  the  breaking  out  of  t' 
war  between  this  country  and  the  French  republic:^ 
they  emisrated  to  America, 
stance,  joiued  to  the  state  of  insulation  in  whidi 


CHEjnSTKT  IV   GREAT  BRITAIN.  15 

he  Kvedy  that  induced  Dr.  Priestley,  after  much 
eomideratioQy  to  form  the  resolution  of  following 
Ilk  tons  and  emigrating  to  America.  He  published 
iiis  leaaonStfin  the  pre&ce  to  a  Fast-day  Sermon, 
printed  in  17d4,  one  of  the  gcavest  and  most  forcible 

Epes  of  composition  I  have  ever  read.  He  left  £ng- 
d  in  April,  1795,  and  reached  New  Yoric  in  June. 
la  America  he  was  received  with  much  respect  by 
penons  of  all  ranks ;  and  was  immediately  offered 
the  situation  of  professor  of  chemistry  in  the 
College  of  Philadelphia;  which,  however,  he  de- 
dined,  as  his  circumstances^  by  the  liberality  of 
liis  -  friends  in.  England,  continued  independent. 
He  settled,  finally,  in  Northumberland,  about  130 
mikes  from  Philadelphia,  where  he  built  a  house, 
and  re-established  his  library  and  laboratory,  as 
well  as  circumstances  permitted.  Here  he  pub- 
lished a  considerable  number  of  chemical  papers, 
lome  of  them  under  the  form  of  pamphlets,  and 
the  pest  in  the  American  Transactions,  the  New 
Yoik  Medical  Repository,  and  Nicholson's  Journal 
of  Natural  Philosophy  and  Chemistry.  Here,  also, 
lie  continued  keenly  engaged  in  theological  pur- 
suits; and  published,  or  republished,  a  great 
variety  of  books  on  theological  subjects.  Here  he 
lost  his  wife  and  his  youngest  and  favourite  son, 
who,  he  had  flattered  himself,  was  to  succeed  him  in 
his  literary  career : — and  here  he  died,  in  1804,  after 
having  been  confined  only  two  days  to  bed,  and  but 
a  few  hours  after  having  arranged  his  literary  con- 
cerns, inspected  some  proof-sheets  of  his  last  theo- 
logical work,  and  given  instructions  to  his  son  how 
it  should  be  printed. 

During  the  latter  end  of  the  presidency  of  Mr. 
Adams,  the  same  kind  of  odium  which  had  banished 
Dr.  Priestley  from  England  began  to  prevail  in 
America.     He  was  threatened  with  being  sent  out  of 


16  HISTORY   OF  CHEMISTRY. 

the  country  as  an  alien.  Notwithstanding  this,  he 
declined  being  naturalized;  resolving,  as  he  saad^ 
to  die  as  he  had  lived,  an  Englishman.  When 
his  friend  Mr.  Jefferson,  whose  political  opinions 
coincided  with  his  own,  became  president,  the  odium 
against  him  wore  off,  and  he  became  as  much  re- 
spected as  ever. 

As  to  the  character  of  Dr.  Priestley,  it  is  so  well 
marked  by  his  life  and  writings,  that  it  is  difficult 
to  conceive  how  it  could  have  been  mistaken  by 
many  eminent  men  in  this  kingdom.  Industry  was 
his  great  characteristic ;  and  this  quality,  together  with 
a  facility  of  composition,  acquired,  as  he  tells  us,  by 
a  constant  habit  while  young  of  drawing  out  an 
abstract  of  the  sermons  which  he  had  preached,  and 
writing  a  good  deal  in  verse,  enabled  him  to  do  so 
much :  yet,  he  informs  us  that  he  never  was  an  in* 
tense  student,  and  that  his  evenings  were  usually 
passed  in  amusement  or  company.  He  was  an 
early  riser,  and  always  lighted  his  own  fire  before 
any  one  else  was  stirring :  it  was  then  that  he  com** 
posed  all  his  works.  It  is  obvious,  from  merely 
glancing  into  his  books,  that  he  was  precipitate; 
and  indeed,  from  the  way  he  went  on  thinking  as 
he  wrote,  and  writing  only  one  copy,  it  was  im- 
possible he  could  be  otherwise :  but,  as  he  was  per- 
fectly  sincere  and  anxious  to  obtain  the  truth,  he 
freely  acknowledged  his  mistakes  as  soon  as  he  be- 
came sensible  of  them.  This  candour  is  very  visible  in 
his  philosophical  speculations;  but  in  his  theolo- 
gical writings  it  was  not  so  much  to  be  expected. 
He  was  generally  engaged  in  controversy  in  theo- 
logy ;  and  his  antagonists  were  often  insolent,  and 
almost  always  angry.  We  all  know  the  effect  of 
such  opposition ;  and  need  not  be  surprised  that  it 
operated  upon  Dr.  Priestley,  as  it  would  do  upon 
any  other  man.     By  all  accounts  his  powers  of  con- 


nEMISTST   IK    RBEIT   BRITAIN.  17 

n  were  very  great,  and  his  manners  in  every 
respect  very  agreeable.  Thai  this  must  have  been 
the  case  is  obvious  from  the  great  number  of  his 
friends,  and  the  zeal  and  ardour  with  which  they 
continued  to  serve  him,  notwithstandinj  tlie  obloquy 
under  which  be  lay,  and  even  the  danger  that 
might  be  incurred  by  apptearing  to  befriend  him. 
As  for  his  moral  character,  even  his  worst  enemies 
have  been  obliged  to  allow  that  it  was  une:iception- 
able.  Many  of  my  readers  will  perhaps  smile,  when 
1  say  that  he  was  not  only  a  sincere,  but  a  zealous 
Christian,  and  would  willingly  have  died  a  martyr 
to  the  cause.  Yet  I  think  the  fact  is  of  esisy  proof; 
and  his  conduct  through  life,  and  especially  at  his 
death,  affords  irrefragable  proofs  of  it.  His  tenets, 
indeed,  did  not  coincide  with  those  of  the  majority 
of  bis  countrymen ;  but  though  he  rejected  many 
of  the  doctrines,  he  admitted  the  whole  of  the  sub- 
lime morality  and  the  divine  origin  of  the  Christian 
religion ;  which  may  charitably  be  deemed  sufficient 
to  coDBtitute  a  true  Christian.  Of  vanity  he  seems 
to  have  possessed  rather  more  than  a  usual  share; 
but  perhaps  he  was  deficient  in  pride- 

His  writings  were  exceedingly  numerous,  and 
treated  of  science,  theology,  metaphysics,  and 
politics.  Of  his  theological,  metaphysical,  and 
political  writings  it  is  not  our  business  in  this  work 
to  take  any  notice.  His  scientific  works  treat  of 
electricity,  optics,  and  chemistry.  As  an  electrician 
he  was  respectable ;  as  an  optician,  a  compiler;  as 
a  chemist,  a  discoverer-  He  wrote  also  a  book  on 
perspective  which  I  have  never  had  an  opportunity 
of  perusing. 

It  is  to  his  chemical  labours  that  he  is  chiefly  in- 
debted for  the  great  reputation  which  he  acquired. 
No  man  ever  entered  upon  any  undertaking  with 
less  apparent  means  of  success  than  Dr.  Priestley 


■tSftjUaTay. 


pored  this  gas  in  M.  Lavoisier's  house,  in  Pans,  and 
jshawed  him.  the  method  of  procuring  it  in  the  year 
1774,  which  is  a  considerable  time  before  the  dale 
assigned  by  Lavwsier  for  his  pretended  discovery. 
Scheele,  however,  actually  obtained  this  gas  without 
any  previous  knowledge  of  what  Priestley  had  done; 
but  the  bcwk  containing-  this  discovery  was  not  pub- 
lished till  three  years  after  Priestley's  process  had 
become  known  to  the  public. 

Dr.  Priestley  first  made  known  sulphurous  acid, 
fluosilicic  acid,  muriatic  acid,  and  ammonia  in  the 
gaseous  form ;  and  pointed  out  easy  methods  of 
procuring  them;  he  describes  with  exactness  the 
moat  remarkable  properties  of  each.  He  likewisa 
pointed  out  the  existence  of  carburetted  hydrogen 
gas ;  though  he  made  but  few  eiperimeata  to  de- 
termine  its  nature.  His  discovery  of  protoxide  of 
azote  affords  a  beautiful  example  of  the  advant^es 
resulting  from  his  method  of  investigation,  and  the 
sagacity  which  enabled  him  to  follow  out  any  re- 
markable appearances  which  occurred.  Carbonic 
oxide  gas  was  discovered  by  him  while  in  America, 
and  it  was  brought  forward  by  him  as  an  incoDtro- 
vertlble  refutation  of  the  antiphlogistic  theory. 

Though  he  was  not  strictly  the  discoverer  of  hydro- 
gen gas,  yethisexpernnents(«i  it  were  highly  intoest- 
ing,  and  contributed  essentially  to  the  levolutioB 
which  chemistry  soon  after  underwent.  Nothing, 
for  example,  could  be  more  striking,  than  the  re- 
duction of  oxide  of  iron,  and  the  disappearance  of 
the  hydrogen  when  the  oxide  is  heated  sufficiently 
in  contact  with  hydrogen  gas.  Azotic  gas  was  known. 
before  he  began  bis  career ;  but  we  are  Indebted  to 
him  for  most  of  the  properties  of  it  yet  known.  To 
him,  also,  we  owe  the  knowledge  of  the  fact,  that  an 
acid  is  formed  when  electric  sparks  are  mode  to  pasa 
for  gome  time  through  a  given  bulk  of  common  air; 


li 


CHeJBISTDT   IN   GREAT  BRIT.IIN.  21 

a  fact  which  ied  afterwarfa  to  Mr.  Cavendish't 
great  discovery  of  the  compofiition  of  nitric  acid- 
He  first  discovi?red  the  great  increase  of  biilk 
which  takes  place  when  electric  sparks  are  made  to 
pass  through  ammoniacal  gas — a  fact  which  led 
Berthdiet  to  the  analysis  of  this  gas.  He  merely 
repealed  Priestley's  experiment,  determined  the 
augmentation  of  bulk,  and  the  nature  of  the  gases 
evolved  by  the  action  of  the  electricity.  Hia  ex- 
periments OQ  the  amelioration  of  atmospherical  air  by 
the  vegetation  of  plants,  on  the  oxygen  gas  given 
oat  by  their  leaves,  and  on  the  respiration  of  animals, 
are  not  less  curious  and  interesting. 

Such  is  a  short  view  of  the  most  material  facts  for 
which  chemistry  is  indebted  to  Dr.  Priestley.    As  a 
discoverer  of  new  Eubstances,  his  name  must  always 
stand  very  high  in  the  science ;  but  as  a  reasoner 
ttt  theorist  his  position  will   not  be  so  favourable. 
it  will  be  observed  that  almost  all  his  researcha 
"  id  discoveries  related  to  gaseous  bodies.     He  de- 
irmined  the  different  processes,  by  means  of  which 
different  gases  can  be  procured,  the  substances 
'i  yield  them,  and  the  effects  which  they  are 
lie  of  producing  on  otlier  bodies.     Of  the  other 
trtments  of  chemistry  he  could  hardly  be  said 
know  any  thing.     As  a  pneumatic  chemist  he 
Liids  high;  as  an  analytical  chemist  lu}  can  scurcely 
any  rank  whatever.     In  his  famous  experi- 
.  on  the  formation  of  water  by  detonating  mis- 
of  oxygen  and  hydrogen  in  a  copper  globo, 
copper  was  found  acted  upon,  and  a  blue  liquid 
obtained,  the  nature  of  which  he  wai  unable  to 
^rtain;  but  Mr.  Keir,  whose  assistance  he  soli- 
cited, determined  it  to  be  a  solution  of  nitrate  of 
copper  in  water.     This  formation  of  nitric  acid  in- 
doced  him  to  deny  that  water  was  a  compound  of 
tKygea  and  hydrogen.     The  same  acid  was  formed 


BiaTOKT  or  CBEM^  | 

in  the  experiments  of  Mr.  Cavendish ;  bat  be  in- 
vestigated the  circumstances  of  the  formation,  and 
showed  that  it  depended  upon  the  presence  of  azotic 
vni  in  the  gaseous  mixture.  Whenever  azotic  gM 
II  present,  nitric  acid  is  formed,  and  the  quantity  of 
thin  acid  depends  upon  the  relative  proportion  of  the 
Rxotic  and  hydrogen  gaaea  in  the  mixture.  When  no 
hydru^en  gas  is  present,  nothing  is  formed  but  nitiic 
acid :  wlien  no  azotic  gas  is  present,  nothing  is 
formed  but  water.  These  facts,  determined  by 
Cavendisli,  invalidate  the  reasoning  of  Priestky  alto- 

§  ether  ;  and  had  he  pnsaeased  the  skill,  like  CavED- 
ish,  to  determine  with  sufficient  accuracy  the  pro- 
portions of  the  different  gases  in  his  mixtures,  and 
thr  relative  qnuntities  of  nitric  acid  formed,  be 
would  have  seen  the  inaccuracy  of  his  own  con- 
clusions. 

He  was  a  firm  believer  in  the  existence  of  ftA(f 
giston ;  hut  lie  seems,  at  least  ultimately,  to  have 
ndopteil  the  view  of  Scheele,  and  many  other  emi- 
Mont  contemporary  chemists — indeed,  the  view  of 
Cavendish  himself — that  hydrogen  gas  is  phlogiston 
in  n  separate  and  pure  Etate.  Common  air  he  con- 
Bidered  as  a  compound  of  oxygen  and  phlogiston. 
Oxygen,  in  his  opinion,  was  air  quite  free  from 
phlogiston,  or  air  in  a  simple  and  pure  slate  ;  while 
axolic  gai  (the  other  constituent  of  common  air) 
was  air  saturated  with  phlogiston.  Hence  he  called 
oxygen  dvphloyislicated,  and  azote  phlogisticated 
air.  The  facts  that  when  common  air  is  converted 
into  azotic  gas  its  bulk  is  diminished  about  one-fifth 
part,  and  that  azotic  gas  is  lighter  than  common  air 
or  oxygen  gas,  though  not  quite  unknown  to  him, 
do  not  seem  to  have  drawn  much  of  his  attention. 
He  was  not  accustomed  to  use  a  balance  in  his  ex- 
periments, nor  to  attend  much  to  the  alterations 
which  took  place  in  the  weight  of  bodies.     Had  he 


CHSMISTliT   IN   GREAT  BRITAIN*  23 

done  80y  most  of  his  theoretical  opinions  would  have 
fallen  to  the  ground. 

When  a  body  is  allowed  to  bum  in  a  given  quan- 
tity of  common  air,  it  is  known  that  the  quality  of 
the  common  air  is  deteriorated ;  it  become^,  in  his 
language,  more  phlogisticated.    This,  in  his  opinion, 
was  owing  to  an  affinity  which  existed  between  phlo- 
giston and  air.     The  presence  of  air  is  necessary  to 
combustion,  in  consequence  of  the  affinity  which  it 
has  for  phlogiston.     It  draws  phlogiston  out  of  the 
burning  body,  in  order  to  combine  with  it.     When 
a  given  bulk  of  air  is  saturated  with  phlogiston,  it  is 
converted  into  azotic  gas,  or  phlogisticated  air,  as 
he  called  it ;  and  this  air,  having  no  longer  any 
affinity  for  phlogiston,  can  no  longer  attract  that 
principle,  and  consequently  combustion  cannot  go 
on  in  such  air. 

All  combustible  bodies,  in  his  opinion,  contain 
hydrogen.  Of  course  the  metals  contain  it  as  a 
constituent.  The  calces  of  metals  are  those  bodies 
deprived  of  phlogiston.  To  prove  the  truth  of  this 
opinion,  he  showed  that  when  the  oxide  of  iron  is 
heated  in  hydrogen  gas,  that  gas  is  absorbed,  while 
the  calx  is  reduced  to  the  metallic  state.  Finery 
cinder,  which  he  employed  in  these  experiments,  is, 
in  his  opinion,  iron  not  quite  free  from  phlogiston. 
Hence  it  still  retains  a  quantity  of  hydrogen.  To 
prove  this,  he  mixed  together  finery  cinder  and 
carbonates  of  lime,  barytes  and  strontian,  and  ex- 
posed the  mixture  to  a  strong  heat;  and  by  this 
process  obtained  inflammable  gas  in  abundance.  In 
his  opinion  every  inflammable  gas  contains  hydrogen 
in  abundance.  Hence  this  experiment  was  adduced 
by  him  as  a  demonstration  that  hydrogen  is  a  con- 
stituent of  finery  cinder. 

All  these  processes  of  reasoning,  which  appear  so 
plausible  as  Dr.  Priestley  states  them,  vanish  into 


BIBTOKT  OF  CHEKIKTRT. 

nothing,  when  his  experiments  arc  made,  and  the 
weights  of  eveiy  thing  determined  by  means  of  k 
balance:  it  is  then  eEtablished  that  a  burning  body 
becomes  heavier  during  its  combustion,  and  that  the 
(BuiTouitding  air  loees  just  as  much  weight  as  the 
burning  body  gains,  bcbeele  and  Lavoisier  showed 
clearly  that  the  loss  of  weight  sustained  by  the  air  is 
owing  to  a  quantity  of  oxygen  absorbed  fiom  it,  and 
condensed  in  the  burning  body.  Cruilishank  first 
elucidated  the  nature  of  the  inflammable  gas,  pro- 
duced  by  the  heating  a  mixture  of  finery  cinder  and 
carbonate  of  lime,  or  otlier  earthy  carbonate.  He 
found  that  iron  filings  would  answer  better  than 
finery  cinder.  The  gas  was  found  to  contain  no 
hydrogen,  and  to  be  in  fact  a  compound  of  oxj-gen 
and  carbon.  It  was  shown  lo  be  derived  from  the 
carbonic  acid  of  the  earthy  carbonate,  which  was 
deprived  of  half  its  oxygen  by  the  iron  filings  or 
finery  cinder.  Thus  altered,  it  no  longer  preserved 
its  affinity  for  the  lime,  but  made  its  escape  in  the 
gaseous  form,  constituting  the  gas  now  known  by 
the  name  of  carbonic  oxide. 

Though  the  consequence  of  the  Birmingham  riots, 
which  obliged  Dr.  Priestley  to  leave  England  and 
repair  to  America,  is  deeply  to  be  lamented,  as 
fixing  an  indelible  disgrace  upon  the  country  ;  per- 
haps it  was  not  in  reality  so  injurious  to  Dr.  Priestley 
as  may  at  first  sight  appear.  He  had  carried  his 
peculiar  researches  nearly  as  far  as  they  could 
go.  To  arrange  and  methodize,  and  deduce  from 
them  the  legitimate  consequences,  required  the  ap- 
plication of  a  different  branch  of  chemical  science, 
which  he  had  not  cultivated,  and  which  his  charac- 
teristic rapidity,  and  the  time  of  life  to  which  he  had 
arrived,  would  have  rendered  it  almost  impossible 
for  him  to  acquire.  In  all  probability,  therefore, 
had  he  been  allowed  to  prosecute  his  researches  «n- 


CHSXISTRY   IK   GREAT  BRITAIN.  25 

molested,  his  Teputation,  instead  of  an  increase, 
might  have  suffered  a  diminution,  and  he  might  have 
lost  that  eminent  situation  as  a  man  of  science 
which  he  had  so  long  occupied. 

With  Dr.  Priestley  closes  this  period  of  the  His- 
tory of  British  Chemistry — for  Mr.  Cavendish, 
though  he  had  not  lost  his  activity,  had  abandoned 
that  branch  of  science,  and  turned  his  attention  to 
9ther  pursuits. 


S6  HISTOET  OF   CHEMISTRT. 


CHAPTER  II. 


OF   THE   PROGRESS    OF   PHILOSOPHICAL   CHEMISTRY  IN 

SWEDEN. 

Though  Sweden,  partly  in  consequence  of  her 
scanty  population,  and  the  consequent  limited  sale 
of  books  in  that  country,  and  partly  from  "the  pro- 
pensity of  her  writers  to  imitate  the  French,  which 
has  prevented  that  originality  in  her  poets  and  his- 
torians that  is  requisite  for  acquiring  much  eminence 
— though  Sweden,    for  these  reasons,   has   never 
reached  a  very  high  rank  in  literature ;  yet  the  case 
has  been  very  different  in  science.     She  has  pro- 
duced men  of  the  very  first  eminence,  and  has  con- 
tributed more  than  her  full  share  in  almost  every 
department  of  science,  and  in  none  has  she  shone 
with  greater  lustre  than  in  the  department  of  Che- 
mistry.    Even  in  the  latter  part  of  the  seventeenth 
century,  before  chemistry  had,  properly  speakingi 
assumed  the  rank  of  a  science,  we  find  Hierne  in 
Sweden,  whose  name  deserves  to  be  mentioned  with 
respect.  Moreover,  in  the  earlier  part  of  the  eighteenth 
century,  Brandt,  SchefFer,  and  Wallerius,  had  dif- 
tinguished  themselves  by  their  writings.    Cronstedt, 
about  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century,  may  be 
said  to  have  laid  the  foundation  of  systematic  mi- 


PROGRESS  OF   CHEMISTRY   IN   SWEDEN. 

neralogy  upon  chemical  principles,  by  the  publica- 
tion of  his  System  of  Mineralogy.  But  Bergman 
is  entitled  to  the  merit  of  being  the  first  person  who 
prosecuted  chemistry  in  Sweden  on  truly  philosophi- 
cal principles,  and  raised  it  to  that  high  estimation 
to  which  its  importance  justly  entitles  it. 

Torbem  Bei^man  was  born  at  Catherinberg,  in 
West  Gothland,  on  the  20th  of  March,  1735.  Hia 
father,  Barthold  Bergman,  was  receiver  of  the  re- 
Tenues  of  that  district,  and  his  mother,  Sara  HUgg, 
the  daughter  of  a  Gotheborg  merchant,  A  receiver 
of  the  revenues  was  at  that  time,  in  Sweden,  a  post 
both  disagreeable  and  hazardous.  The  creatures  of 
a  party  which  had  had  the  ascendancy  in  one  diet, 
they  were  exposed  to  the  persecution  of  the  diet  next 
following,  in  which  an  opposite  party  usually  had 
the  predominance.  This  circumstance  induced  Berg- 
man to  advise  his  son  to  turn  his  attention  to  the 
professions  of  law  or  divinity,  which  were  at  that 
time  the  most  lucrative  in  Sweden.  After  having 
spent  the  usual  time  at  school,  and  acquired  those 
branches  of  learning  commonly  taught  in  Sweden, 
in  the  public  schools  and  academies  to  which  Berg- 
man was  sent,  he  went  to  the  University  of  Upsala, 
in  the  autumn  of  1752,  where  he  was  placed  under 
the  guidance  of  a  relation,  whose  province  it  was  to 
superintend  his  studies,  and  direct  them  to  those 
pursuits  that  were  likely  to  lead  young  Bergman  to 
wealth  and  distinction.  Our  young  student  showed 
at  once  a  decided  predilection  for  mathematics,  and 
tbosebranclies  of  physics  which  were  connected  with 
mathematics,  or  depended  upon  them.  But  these 
were  precisely  the  bi-anches  of  study  which  his  re- 
lation was  anxious  to  prevent  his  indulging  in. 
Bergman  attempted  at  once  to  indulge  his  own  in- 

ination,  and  to  gratify  the  wishes  of  his  relation. 

'%  obliged  him  to  study  with  a  degree  of  ardour 


Selnd 


HcwMBtbe  habit  of  mng  to  lit 

o'clock,  and  he 
t3l  dewcn  at  night.  'Hie  fir<i  real  o(  his 
■t  npsa]a,  he  had  made  bimself  ma5teT  of  Wolfs 
Lo^,  of  Wallerius's  System  of  Chemistry,  and  of 
twelTe  boolES  of  Euclid's  Elements :  for  he  had  aU 
readj  studied  the  Rnt  book  of  that  woiic  in  the 
Gymnasium  before  he  went  to  eoUege.  He  Ukewist 
penised  Keil's  Lectures  on  Astronomy,  vhich  at 
that  time  were  considered  as  the  best  introdactioB 
to  physics  and  astronomy.  His  relative  disap- 
proved of  his  mathematical  and  physical  studies  si- 
together  ;  but,  not  being  able  to  put  a  stop  to  them, 
he  interdicted  the  books,  and  left  his  young  charge 
merely  the  choice  between  law  and  diTtnity. 
Bergman  got  a  small  box  made,  with  a  drawer, 
into  which  he  put  his  mathematical  and  phy^eal 
books,  and  over  this  box  he  piled  the  law  books 
which  his  relative  had  urged  him  to  study.  At  the 
time  of  the  daily  visits  of  his  relative,  the  mathe- 
matical and  physical  books  were  carefully  locked  up 
in  the  drawer,  and  the  law  books  spread  upon  the 
table ;  but  no  sooner  was  his  presence  removed,  thaa 
the  drawer  was  opened,  and  the  mathematical  stages 
resumed. 

Tliis  incessant  study ;  this  necessity  under  which 


he  found  himself  to  consult  his  own  inclinations 
and  those  of  his  relative;  this  double  portion 
of  labour,  without  time  for  relaxation,  exercise,  or 
amusement,  proved  at  last  injurious  to  young  Berg;- 
man's  health.  He  fell  ill.  iind  was  obliged  to  leave 
the  university  and  return  home  to  his  father's  house 
in  a  state  of  bad  health.  There  constant  and  mo- 
derate exercise  was  prescribed  him,  as  the  only 
means  of  restoring  his  health.  That  his  time  here 
might  not  be  altogether  lost  to  him,  he  formed  the 
plan  of  making  bis  walks  subservient  to  the  study  of 
botany  and  entomology. 

At  this  time  lionEeus,  after  having  surmounted 
obstacles  which  would  have  crushed  a  man  of  or- 
dinary energy,  was  in  the  height  of  his  glory ;  and 
was  professor  of  botany  and  natural  history  in  the 
University  of  Upsala.  His  lectures  were  attended 
by  crowas  of  students  from  every  country  in  Eu- 
rope :  he  was  enthusiastically  admired  and  adored 
by  his  students.  This  influence  on  the  minds  of  his 
pupils  was  almost  unbounded ;  and  at  Upsala, 
every  student  was  a  natural  historian.  Bergman 
had  studied  botany  before  he  went  to  college,  and 
he  had  acquired  a  taste  for  entomology  from  the 
lectures  of  Linnteus  himself.  Both  of  these  pursuits 
he  continued  to  follow  after  his  return  home  to  West 
Gothland;  and  he  made  a  collection  of  plants  and 
4f  insects.  Grasses  and  mosses  were  tlie  plants 
to  which  he  turned  the  most  of  his  attention,  and  of 
which  he  collected  the  greatest  number.  But  he 
felt  a  predilection  for  the  study  of  insects,  which 
was  a  field  much  less  explored  than  the  study  of 
plants. 

Among  the  insects  which  he  collected  were  several 

aot  to  be  found  in  the  Fauna  Suecica.     Of  these 

mAe  sent  specim,enB  to  Linnffius  at  Upsala,  who  was 

Blrfiehtcd  with  the  present.    All  of  them  were  till 


30  HISTO&T  OF  CHEMmVT. 

then  nnkiioini  as  Swedish  insects,  and  serend  of  them 
were  quite  new.  The  following  were  the  insects  aft 
this  time  collected  by  Bergman,  and  sent  to  Upsala, 
as  they  were  named  by  liimaeas : 

PhaUena.     Bombyx  monacha,  cameKna. 

Noctua  PartheniaSy  con^piciDam. 

Perspicillaris,  flavicomis,  Plebeia* 

Geometra  pennaria. 

Tortrix  Bergmanniana,  Lediana. 

Tinea  Harrisella,  Pedella,  Punctdla. 
Tenthredo.  Vitellina,  ustulata. 
Ichneumon.  Jaculator  niger. 
Tipula.        Tremula. 

When  Bergman's  health  was  re-established,  hft 
returned  to  Upsala  with  full  liberty  to  prosecute 
his  studies  according  to  his  own  wishes,  and  to  de- 
vote the  whole  of  his  time  to  mathematics,  physics, 
and  natural  history.  His  relations,  finding  it  in  vain 
to  combat  his  predilections  for  these  studies,  thought 
it  better  to  allow  him  to  indulge  them. 

He  had  made  himself  known  to  Linneeus  by  the 
collection  of  insects  which  he  had  sent  him  from 
Catherinberg ;  and,  drawn  along  by  the  glory  with 
which  Linneeus  was  surrounded,  and  the  zeal  wiA 
which  his  fellow-students  prosecuted  such  studies, 
he  devoted  a  great  deal  of  his  attention  to  natural 
history.  The  first  paper  which  he  wrote  upon  the 
subject  contained  a  discovery.  There  was  a  sub- 
stance observed  in  some  ponds  not  far  from  Upsala, 
to  which  the  name  of  coccus  aquations  was  given, 
but  its  nature  was  unknown.  Linneeus  had  con* 
jectured  that  it  might  be  the  ovarium  of  some  in- 
sect; but  he  left  the  point  to  be  determined  faj 
future  observations.  Bergman  ascertained  that  it 
was  the  ovum  of  a  species  of  leech,  and  that  it  con* 


P&OGIUBS  or  CHEMISTaT  IH  SWEDEN.         31 

tained  from  ten  to  twelve  young  animals.  When 
lie  stated  what  be  had  ascertained  to  Linncens,  that 
^at  naturalist  refused  to  believe  it ;  but  Bergman 
satisfied  him  of  the  truth  of  his  discovery  by  actual 
observation.  linneeus,  thus  satisfied,  wrote  under 
the  paper  of  Bergman,  Vidi  et  obstupuij  and  sent 
it  to  the  academy  of  Stockholm  with  this  flattering 
panegyric.  It  was  printed  in  the  Memoirs  of  that 
teamed  body  for  1756  (p.  199),  and  was  the  first 
paper  of  Bergman's  that  was  committed  to  the  press. 

He  continued  to  prosecute  the  study  of  natural  his- 
tory as  an  amusement;  though  mathematics  and 
natural  philosophy  occupied  by  far  the  greatest  part  of 
iiis  time.  Various  useful  papers  of  his,  connected 
ivith  entomology,  appeared  from  time  to  time  in  the 
Memoirs  of  the  Stockholm  Academy ;  in  particular, 
Et  paper  on  the  history  of  insects  which  attack  fniit- 
trees,  and  on  the  methods  of  guarding  against  their 
(ravages :  on  the  method  of  classing  these  insects  from 
the  forms  of  their  larvee,  a  time  when  it  would  be  most 
useful  for  the  agriculturist  to  know,  in  order  to  destroy 
those  that  are  hurtful :  a  great  number  of  observations 
on  this  class  of  animals,  so  various  in  their  shape  and 
their  organization,  and  so  important  for  man  to  know 
— some  of  which  he  has  been  able  to  overcome,  while 
others,  defended  by  their  small  size,  and  powerful 
by  their  vast  numbers,  still  continue  their  ravages ; 
and  which  offer  so  interesting  a  sight  to  the  philoso- 
pher by  their  labours,  their  manners,  and  their 
foresight. — Bergman  was  fond  of  these  pursuits, 
and  looked  back  upon  them  in  afterlife  with 
pleasure.  Long  after,  he  used  to  mention  with  much 
salisfaction,  that  by  the  use  of  the  method  pointed 
out  by  him,  no  fewer  than  seven  millions  of  de- 
structive insects  were  destroyed  in  a  single  garden, 
and  during  the  course  of  a  single  summer. 

About  the  year  1757  he  was  appointed  tutof  to 


QRY    OF    CHEMISTRY. 

the  only  son  of  Count  Adolf  Frederick  Stackdber|;, 
a  situation  which  he  filled  greatly  to  the  satisfaclioa 
both  of  the  father  aad  son,  as  long  as  the  young 
count  stood  in  need  of  an  instructor.  He  took  bii 
master's  degree  in  1758,  choosing  for  the  subject  of 
bis  thesis  on  astronomical  interpolation.  Soon 
after,  he  was  appointed  magister  docens  in  natural 
philosopliy,  a  situation  peculiar  to  the  University  rf 
Upsala,  and  constituting  a  kind  of  assistant  to  the 
professor.  For  his  promotion  to  this  sitoation  be 
was  obliged  to  M.  Ferner,  who  saw  how  well  qua- 
lified he  was  for  it,  and  how  beneficial  his  labouil 
would  be  to  the  University  of  Upsala.  In  1761  ha 
was  appointed  adjunct  in  mathematics  and  physics, 
which,  I  presume,  means  that  he  wa^  raised  bs  the 
rank  of  an  associate  with  the  professor  of  these 
branches  of  science.  In  this  situation  it  was  his 
business  to  teach  these  sciences  to  the  students  of 
Upsala,  a  task  for  which  he  was  exceedingly  w^ 
fitted.  During  this  period  he  published  various 
tracts  on  different  branches  of  physical  science, 
particularly  on  the  raiabow,  the  crepuscula,  the 
aurora-boreal  is,  the  electrical  phenomena  of  Iceland 
spar,  and  of  the  tourmalin.  We  find  hia  name 
among  the  astronomers  who  observed  the  first 
transit  of  Venus  over  the  sun,  in  1761,  whose  re- 
sults deserve  the  greatest  confidence."  His  obser- 
vations on  the  electricity  of  the  tourmalin  are 
important.  It  was  he  that  first  established  the  true 
laws  that  regulate  these  curious  phenomena. 

During  the  whole  of  this  period  he  had  been  si- 
lently studying  chemistry  and  mineralogy,  though 
nobody  suspected  that  be  was  engaged  in  any  sacib 
pursuits.  But  in  1767  John  Gottschalk  Wallerius, 
who  had  long  fiUcd  the  chair  of  chemistry  in  ths 

t  See  Phil.  Trans.,  vol.  lii.  p.  227,  and  vol.  Iri.  p.  85. 


I 


PBOG&XSS  OF  GHKMISTRT  IV  SWEDEN.         33 

Univenuty  of  Upsala,  with  high  reputation,  re- 
aigiied  h^  chair.  Bergman  immediately  offered 
himself  as  a  candidate  for  the  vacant  professor- 
nkdp :  and,  to  show  that  he  was  qualified  for  the 
office,  pubUshed  two  dissertations  on  the  Ma- 
nufacture of  Alum,  which  probably  he  had  pre- 
Tiously  drawn  up,  and  had  lying  by  him.  Wal- 
lerius  intended  to  resign  his  chair  in  favour  of  a 
pupil  or  relation  of  his  own,  whom  he  had  destined 
to  succeed  him.  He  immediately  formed  a  party 
to  oppose  the  pretensions  of  Bei^man;  and  his 
party  was  so  powerful  and  so  malignant,  that  few 
doubted  of  their  success :  for  it  was  joined  by  all 
those  who,  despairing  of  equalling  the  mdustry  and 
reputation  of  Bergman,  set  themselves  to  oppose  and 
obstruct  his  success.  Such  men  unhappily  exist  in 
all  colleges,  and  the  more  eminent  a  professor  is,  the 
more  is  he  exposed  to  their  malignant  activity. 
Many  of  those  who  cannot  themselves  rise  to  any 
eminence,  derive  pleasure  from  the  attempt  to  pull 
down  the  eminent  to  their  own  level.  In  these 
attempts,  however,  they  seldom  succeed,  unless 
horn  some  want  of  prudence  and  steadiness  in  the 
individual  whom  they  assail.  Bergman's  Dis- 
sertations on  Alum  were  severely  handled  by  Wal- 
lerius  and  his  party :  and  such  was  the  influence  of 
the  ex-professor,  that  every  body  thought  Bergman 
would  be  crushed  by  him. 

Fortunately,  Gustavus  III.  of  Sweden,  at  that  time 
crown  prince,  was  chancellor  of  the  university.  He 
took  up  the  cause  of  Bergman,  influenced,  it  is  said, 
by  the  recommendation  of  Von  Swab,  who  pledged 
himself  for  his  qualifications,  and  was  so  keen  on  the 
subject  that  he  pleaded  his  cause  in  pereon  before 
the  senate*  Wallerius  and  his  party  were  of  course 
baffled,  and  Bergman  got  the  chair. 

For  this  situation  his  previous  studies  had  fitted 

VOL.  II.  D 


other  individuals,  likewise  distlngsished  themsdvei 
as  chemists. 

After  his  appoinfraent  to  the  chemical  chair  at 
Upsala,  the  remainder  of  his  life  passed  with  yerj 
little  variety;  bis  whole  time  was  occupied  withlw 
favourite  studies,  and  not  a  year  passed  that  he  did 
not  publish  some  dissertation  or  other  upon  sfflae 
more  or  less  important  branch  of  chemistry.  Hii 
reputation  gradually  extended  itself  over  Europe, 
and  he  was  enrolled  among  the  pumber  of  the  mem- 
bers of  most  scientific  academies.  Among  other 
honourable  testimonies  of  the  esteem  in  which  he 
was  held,  he  was  elected  rector  of  the  University  of 
Upsala.  This  university  is  not  merely  a  literary 
body,  but  owns  extensive  estates,  over  which  it  pos- 
sesses great  authority,  and,  having  considerable  con- 
trol over  its  students,  aud  enjoying  considerable 
immunities  and  privileges  (conferred  in  former  timei 
as  an  encouragement  to  learning,  though,  in  reality, 
they  serve  only  lo  cramp  its  energies,  and  throw  bar- 
riers in  the  way  of  its  progress),  constitutes,  there- 
fore, a  kind  of  republic  in  the  midst  of  Sweden  :  ths 
professors  being  its  chiefs.  But  while,  in  literaiy 
establishments,  all  the  institutions  ought  to  have  for 
an  object  to  maintain  peace,  and  free  their  memben 
irom  every  occupation  unconnected  with  letters,  tha 
constitution  of  that  university  obliges  its  profeison 
to  attend  to  things  very  inconsistent  with  their  usud 
functions ;  while  it  gives  men  of  influence  and  am- 
bitioD  a  desire  to  possess  the  piower  and  patronage, 
though  they  may  not  be  qualified  to  perform  the 
duties,  of  a  professor.  Such  temptations  are  very 
injurious  to  the  true  cause  of  science;  and  it  were 
to  b«  wished,  that  no  literary  body,  in  any  part  of 
the  world,  were  possessed  of  such  powers  and 
privileges.  When  Bergman  was  rector,  the  univer- 
sity was  divided  into  two  great  parties,  the  one  con- 


*EDEN.         37 

sisting  of  the  theological  and  law  faculties,  and  the 
other  of  the  scientific  professors.  Bergman's  object 
was  to  preserve  peace  and  agreement  between  these 
two  parties,  and  to  convince  them  that  it  was  the 
interest  of  all  to  unite  for  the  good  of  the  university 
and  the  promotion  of  letters.  The  period  of  his 
magistracy  is  remarkable  in  the  annals  of  the  univer- 
sity for  the  small  number  of  deliberations,  and  the 
iittle  business  recorded  in  the  registers;  and  for  the 
good  sense  and  good  behaviour  of  the  students. 
The  students  in  Upsala  arc  numerous,  and  most  of 
them  are  young  men.  They  bad  been  accustomed 
frequently  to  brave  or  elude  the  severity  of  the 
regulations  ;  but  during  Bergman's  rectorship  they 
were  restrained  effectually  by  their  respect  for  his 
genius,  and  their  admiration  of  his  character  and 
conduct. 

When  the  reputation  of  Bergman  was  at  its 
height,  in  the  year  1776,  Frederick  the  Great  of 
Prussia  formed  the  wish  to  attach  him  to  the 
Academy  of  Sciences  of  Berlin,  and  made  him  offers 
of  such  a  nature  that  our  professor  hesitated  for  a 
short  time  as  to  whether  he  ought  not  to  accept  them. 
His  health  had  been  injured  by  the  assiduity  with 
which  he  had  devoted  himself  to  the  double  duty  of 
teaching  and  experimenting.  He  might  look  for  aa 
alleviation  of  his  ailments,  if  not  a  complete  reco- 
very, in  the  milder  climate  of  Prussia,  and  he  would 
be  able  to  devote  himself  entirely  to  his  academical 
duties;  but  other  considerations  prevented  him 
from  acceding  to  this  proposal,  tempting  as  it  was. 
The  King  of  Sweden  had  been  his  benefactor,  and  it 
was  intimated  to  him  that  his  leaving  the  kingdom 
would  afflict  that  monarch.  This  information  induced 
him,  without  further  hesitation,  to  refuse  the  pro- 
posals of  the  King  of  Prussia.  He  requested  of  the 
king,  his  master,  not  to  make  him  lose  the  merit  of 


mSTOKT   OF  CHEXISTBT. 

hia  sacrifice  by  ftugmenting  his  income ;  but  to  this 
demand  the  King  of  Sweden  very  properly  refused  to 
accede. 

In  the  year  1771,  Professor  Bergman  married  a 
widow  lady,  Margaretlia  Catharina  Traat,  daughter 
of  a  clei^iyman  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Upsalfl. 
By  her  he  had  two  sons;  but  both  of  them  died 
when  infants.  This  lady  survived  her  husband. 
The  King  of  Sweden  settled  on  her  an  annuity  of 
200  ris  dollars,  on  condition  that  she  gave  up  the 
library  and  apparatus  of  her  late  husband  to  the 
Royal  Society  of  Upsala. 

Bergman's  health  had  been  always  delicate ;  in- 
deed he  seems  never  to  have  completely  recovered 
the  effects  of  his  first  year's  too  intense  study  at 
Upsala,  He  struggled  on,  however,  with  his  ail- 
ments ;  and,  by  way  of  relaxation,  was  accustomed 
Hometimes,  in  summer,  to  repair  to  the  waters  of 
Medevi— a  celebrated  mineral  spring  in  Sweden, 
situatednearthe  banksofthegreat  inland  lake.Wetter. 
One  of  these  visits  seems  to  have  restored  him  to 
health  for  the  time.  But  his  malady  returned  in  1784 
with  redoubled  violence.  He  was  afflicted  with 
hemorrhoids,  and  his  daily  loss  of  blood  amounted 
to  about  six  ounces.  This  constant  drain  soon 
exhausted  him,  and  on  the  8th  of  July,  1784, 
he  died  at  the  baths  of  Medevi,  to  which  he  had  re-, 
paired  in  hopes  of  again  benefiting  by  these  waters. 

The  different  tracts  which  he  published,  as  they 
have  been  enumerated  by  Hjelm,  who  gave  an  in-, 
teresting  account  of  Bergman  to  the  Stockholm- 
Academy  in  the  year  1785,  amount  to  106.  They, 
have  been  all  collected  into  six  octavo  volumes  en- 
titled "  Opuscnla  Torberni  Bergman  Physica  et 
Chemica" — with  the  exception  of  his  notes  on 
Scheffer,  his  Sciagrapliia,  and  his  chapter  on  Physi- 
-^al  Geography,  which  was  translated  into  French, 


YftOGBE&S  or  CHEMISTRT  IN   SWEDEN.  39 

and  published  in  the  Journal  des  Mines  (vol.  iii. 
No..  15,  p.  55).      His  Sciagraphia,  which  is  an  at- 
tempt to  arrange  minerals  according  to  their  compo- 
sition, was  translated  into  English  by  Dr.  Withering. 
His  notes  on  Scheffer  were  interspersed  in  an  edition 
of  the  "  Chemiske  Forelasningar"  of  that  chemist, 
published  in  i  774,  which  he  seems  to  have  employed  as 
a  text-book  in   his  lectures:  or,  at  all  events,  the 
work  was  published  for  the  use  of  the  students  of 
chemistry  at  Upsala.     There  was  a  new  edition  of  it 
published,  after  Bergman's  death,  in  the  year  1796, 
to  which  are  appended  Bergman's  Tables  of  Affinities. 
The  most  important  of  Bergman's  chemical  papers 
were  collected  by  himself,  and  constitute  the  three 
first    volumes    of  his    Opuscula.     The   three   last 
volumes  of  that  work  were  published  after  his  death. 
The  fourth  volume  was  published  at  Leipsic,  in  1787, 
by  Hebenstreit,  and  contains  the  rest  of  his  chemi- 
cal  papers.     The  fifth  volume  was  given  to  the 
world   in   1788,  by  the  same   editor.     It  contains 
three  chemical  papers,  and  the  rest  of  it  is  made  up 
with  papers  on  natural  history,  electricity,  and  other 
branches  of  physics,  which  Bergman  had  published 
in  the  earlier  part  of  his  life.     The  same  indefatiga- 
ble editor  published  the  sixth  volume  in  1790.     It 
contains  three  astronomical  papers,  two  chemical, 
and  a  long  paper  on  the  means  of  preventing  any 
injurious  effects  from  lightning.  This  was  an  oration, 
delivered  before  the  Royal  Academy  of  Sciences  of 
Stockholm,  in  1764,  probably  at  the  time  of  his 
admission  into  the  academy. 

It  would  serve  little  purpose  in  the  present  state 
of  chemical  knowledge,  to  give  a  minute  analysis  of 
Bergman's  papers.  To  judge  of  their  value,  it 
would  be  necessary  to  compare  them,  not  with  our 
present  chemical  knowledge,  but  with  the  state 
q£  the  science  when  his  papers  were  published. 


( 


A  very  short  general  view  of  his  labours  will  be  snf- 
ficient  to  convey  an  idea  of  the  benefits  which  the 
science  derived  frooi  them. 

1.  His  first  paper,  entitled  "On  the  Aerial  Acid," 
that  is,  carbonic  acid,  was  published  in  1774.  In 
it  he  gives  the  properties  of  this  substance  in  con- 
siderable detail,  shows  that  it  possesses  acid  quali- 
ties, and  that  it  is  capable  of  combining  with  tbs 
bases,  and  forming  salts.  What  is  very  extraordi- 
nary, in  giving  an  account  of  carbonate  of  lime  aitd 
carbonate  of  magnesia,  he  never  mentions  the  name 
of  Dr.  Black;  though  it  is  very  unlikely  that  Oi  con- 
troversy, which  had  for  years  occupied  the  attentioa 
of  chemists,  should  have  been  unknown  to  hinu 
Mr.  Cavendish's  name  never  once  appears  in  th» 
whole  paper;  though  that  philosopher  had  preceded 
him  by  seven  or  eight  years.  He  informs  us,  thathe 
had  made  known  his  opinions  respecting  the  naturs 
of  this  substance,  to  various  foreign  correspoadents, 
among  others  to  Dr.  Priestley,  as  early  as  the  year 
1770,  and  that  Dr.  Priestley  had  mentioned  his 
views  on  the  subject,  in  a  paper  inserted  in  the  Pbi-> 
losophical  Transactions  for  1772.  Bergman  found 
the  specific  gravity  of  carbonic  acid  gas  rather  high- 
er than  1-5,  that  of  air  being  1.  His  result  is  not! 
far  from  the  truth.  He  obtained  his  gas,  by  mix- 
ing calcareous  spar  with  dilute  sulphuric  acid.  Ha 
shows  that  this  gas  has  a  sour  taste,  that  it  raddenS 
the  infusion  of  litmus,  and  that  it  combines  witb 
bases.  He  gives  figures  of  the  apparatus  which  ha 
nsed.  This  apparatus  demands  attention.  Though 
far  inferior  to  the  contrivances  of  Priestley,  it  an- 
swered pretty  well,  enabling  him  to  collect  the  gaa, 
and  examine  its  properties. 

It  is  unnecessary  to  enter  into  any  further  detail* 
respecting  this  paper.  Whoever  will  take  the  trou- 
ble to  compare  it  with  Cavendish's  paper  on  thesama 


FBOGRStt  or  CBEMISntT  IM  SWEDEK.         41 

sabjecty  will  find  that  lie  had  been  anticipated  bj 
that  philoaopher  in  a  great  many  of  his  most  impwi- 
ant  facts.  Under  these  circumstances,  I  consider 
as  singular  his  not  taking  any  notice  of  Cayendish's 
preyious  labours. 

2.  His  next  paper,  **  On  the  Analyses  of  Mineral 
Waters,"  was  fiist  published  in  1778,  being  the 
subject  of  a  thesis,  supported  by  J.  P.  Scharenberg. 
This  dissertation,  which  i^of  great  length,  is  entitlol 
to  much  praise.  He  lays  therein  the  foundation  of  the 
mode  of  analyzing  waters,  such  as  is  followed  at 
present.  He  points  out  the  use  of  different  reagents, 
for  detecting  the  presence  of  the  various  constituents 
in  mineral  water,  and  then  shows  how  the  quantity 
of  each  is  to  be  determined.  It  would  be  doing 
great  injustice  to  Bergman,  to  compare  his  analyses 
with  those  of  any  modem  experimenter.  At  that 
time,  the  science  was  not  in  possession  of  any  accu- 
rate analyses  of  the  neutral  salts,  which  exist  in 
mineral  waters.  Bergman  undertook  these  necessary 
analyses,  without  which,  the  determination  of  the 
saline  constituents  of  mineral  waters  was  out  of  the 
question.  His  determinations  were  not  indeed 
accurate,  but  they  were  so  much  better  than  those 
that  preceded  them,  and  Bergman's  character  as  an 
experimenter  stood  so  high,  that  they  were  long 
referred  to  as  a  standard  by  chemists.  The  first 
attempt  to  correct  them  was  by  Kirwan.  But  Berg- 
man's superior  reputation  as  a  chemist  enabled  his 
results  still  to  keep  their  ground,  till  his  character 
for  accuracy  was  finally  destroyed  by  the  very  accu- 
rate experiments  which  the  discovery  of  the  atomic 
theory  rendered  it  necessary  to  make.  These, 
when  once  they  became  generally  known,  were  of 
course  preferred,  and  Bergman's  analyses  were  laid 
aside. 

It  is  a  curious  and  humiliating  fact,  as  it  shows 


HISTORY   OF 

how  rnucb  chemical  reputation  depends  upon  situi- 
tion,  or  accidental  circumstances,  that  Wenzel  bad, 
in  1766,  in  his  book  on  affinity,  published  much 
more  accurate  analyses  of  all  these  salts,  than  Berg- 
man's— analyses  indeed  which  were  almost  perfectly 
correct,  and  which  hare  scarcely  been  suqiassed,  by 
the  most  careful  ones  of  the  present  day.  Yet 
these  admirable  experiments  scarcely  drew  the  at- 
tention of  chemists;  while  the  very  inferior  ones  of 
Bergman  were  held  up  as  models  of  perfection. 

3.  Bergman,  not  satisfied  with  ptHDting  out  the 
mode  of  anaLyzing  mineral  waters,  attempted  to 
imitate  them  artificially  by  chemical  processes,  and 
published  two  essaya  on  the  subject ;  in  the  first  he 
showed  the  processes  by  which  cold  mineral  waters 
might  be  imitated,  and  in  the  other,  the  mode  of 
imitating'  hot  mineral  waters.  The  attempt  was 
Taluable,  and  served  to  extend  greatly  the  chemical 
knowledge  of  mineral  waters,  and  of  the  salts  which, 
they  cMitain  ;  but  it  was  made  at  too  early  a  period 
of  the  analytical  art,  to  approach  perl'ection.  &.  i 
similar  remark  applies  to  his  analysis  of  sea-water..  I 
The  water  examined  was  brought  by  Sparmana  from 

a  depth  of  eighty  fathoms,  near  the  latitude  of  tha 
Canaries :  Bergman  found  in  it  only  common  salt, 
muriate  of  magnesia,  and  sulphate  of  lime.  His  not 
having  discovered  the  presence  of  sulphate  of  mag- 
nesia is  a  sufficient  proof  of  the  imperfection  of  his 
analytical  methods;  the  otber  constituents  exist  ia. 
such  small  quantity  in  sea-water  that  tbey  might 
easily  have  been  overlooked,  but  the  quantity  of> 
sulphate  of  magnesia  in  sea-water  is  considerable. 

4.  1  shall  pass  over  the  paper  on  oxalic  acid,, 
"which  constituted  the  subject  of  a  thesis,  supported 
in  1776,  by  John  Afzelius  Arfvedson.  It  is  now 
known  that  oxalic  acid  was  discovered  by  Scheele, 
not  by  Bergman.     It  is  impossible  to  say  how  many 


PROGRESS   OF   CnEMlSTRY  IS   SWEDEN.         43" 

of  the  numerous  facta  stated  in  this  thesis  were 
ascertaLDed  by  Scheele,  and  how  many  by  Afzeltus. 
For,  as  Afzelius  was  already  a  magister  docens  in 
chemistry,  there  can  be  little  doubt  that  he  would 
himself  ascertain  tlie  facts  which  were  to  constitute 
the  foundation  of  his  thesis.  It  is  indeed  now  knowa 
that  Bergman  himself  intrusted  all  the  details  of  his 
experiments  to  his  pupils.  He  was  the  contriver, 
while  his  pupils  executed  his  plans.  That  Scheele 
has  nowhere  laid  claim  to  a  discovery  of  so  much 
importance  as  that  of  oxalic  acid,  and  that  he  allow- 
ed Ber§;man  peaceably  to  bear  away  the  whole 
credit,  constitutes  one  of  the  most  remarkable  facts 
in  the  history  of  chemistry.  Moreover,  while  it 
reflects  so  much  credit  on  Scheele  for  modesty  and 
forbearance,  it  seems  to  bear  a  little  hard  upon  the 
character  of  Bergman.  When  he  published  the 
essay  in  the  first  volume  of  his  Opuscula,  in  1779, 
why  did  he  not  in  anoteinforrathe  world  that  Scheele 
was  the  true  discoverer  of  this  acid?  Why  did  he 
allow  the  discovery  to  be  universally  assigned  to  him, 
without  ever  mentioning  the  true  state  of  the  case? 
All  this  appeared  so  contrary  to  the  character  of 
Bergman,  that  I  was  disposed  to  doubt  the  truth  of 
the  statement,  that  Scheele  was  the  discoverer  of 
oxalic  acid.  When  I  was  at  Fahlun,  in  the  year 
1812, 1  took  an  opportunity  of  putting  the  question 
to  Assessor  Gahn,  who  had  been  the  intimate  friend 
of  Scheele,  and  the  pupil,  and  afterwards  the  friend 
of  Bergman.  He  assured  me  that  Scheele  really 
was  the  discoverer  of  oxalic  acid,  and  ascribed  the 
omission  of  Bergman  to  inadvertence.  Assessor 
Gahn  showed  me  a  volume  of  Scheele 's  letters  to 
him,  which  he  had  bound  up:  they  contained  the 
history  of  all  his  chemical  labours.  I  have  little 
doubt  that  an  account  of  oxalic  acid  would  be  found 
in  these  letters.     If  the  son  of  Assessor  Gahn,  in 


whose  possession  these  letters  must  now  be,  would 
t^e  the  trouble  to  inspect  the  volume  in  question, 
and  to  publish  any  notices  respecting  this  acid  which 
they  may  contain,  he  would  confer  an  important 
favour  on  every  person  interested  in  the  history  of 
chemistry. 

5.  The  dissertation  on  the  manufacture  of  alum 
has  been  mentioned  before.  Bergman  shows  tumiself 
well  acquainted  with  the  processes  followed,  at  least 
in  Sweden,  for  making  alum.  He  had  no  notion  of 
the  true  constitution  of  alum;  nor  was  that  to  be 
expected,  as  the  discovery  was  thereby  years  later 
in  being  made.  He  thought  that  the  reason  why 
alum  leys  did  not  crystallize  well  was,  that  they 
contained  an  excess  of  acid,  and  that  the  addition 
of  potash  gave  them  the  property  of  crystallizing 
readily,  merely  by  saturating  that  excess  of  add. 
Alum  is  a  double  salt,  composed  of  three  integrant 
particles  of  sulphate  of  alumina,  and  one  integrant 
particle  of  sulphate  of  potash,  or  sulphate  of  am- 
monia. In  some  cases,  the  alum  ore  contains  all 
the  requisite  ingredients.  This  is  the  case  with  the 
ore  at  Tolfa,  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Rome.  It 
seems,  also,  to  be  the  case  with  respect  to  some  of 
the  alum  ores  in  Sweden ;  particularly  at  Hcensoeter 
on  Kinnekulle,  in  West  Gothland,  which  I  visited 
in  1812.  If  any  confidence  can  be  put  in  the  state- 
ments of  the  manager  of  those  works,  no  alkaline 
salt  whatever  is  added  ;  at  least,  I  understood  hitn 
to  say  90  when  I  put  the  question. 

6.  In  his  dissertation  on  tartar-emetic,  he  gives  an 
interesting  historical  account  of  this  salt  and  its 
nses.  His  notions  respecting  the  antimonial  prep^ 
xations  best  fitted  to  form  it,  are  not  accurate  :  nor, 
indeed,  could  they  be  expected  to  be  so,  till  the  na- 
ture and  properties  of  the  different  oxides  of  antt- 
mony   were    accurately  known.      Antimony  forms 


PROGRESS   OF  CHEMISTRT   1 

three  oxides  :  now  it  is  the  protoxide  alone  that  is 
useful  ID  medicine,  and  that  enters  into  tJie  com- 
position of  tarlar-emelic ;  the  other  two  oxides  are 
inert,  or  nearly  so.  Bergman  was  aware  that  tartar- 
emetic  is  a  double  salt,  and  that  its  constituents  are 
tartaric  acid,  potash,  and  oxide  of  antimony;  but 
it  was  not  possible,  in  1773,  when  his  dtsaertation 
was  published,  to  have  determined  the  true  constitu- 
ents of  this  salt  by  analysis, 

7.  Bergman's  paper  on  magnesia  was  also  a 
thesis  defended  in  1775,  by  Charles  Norell,  of 
West  Gothland,  who  in  all  probability  made  t!ie  ex- 
periments described  in  the  essay.  In  the  introduc- 
tion we  have  a  history  of  the  discovery  of  magnesia, 
and  he  mentions  Dr.  Black  as  the  person  who  first 
accurately  made  out  its  peculiar  chemical  characters, 
and  demonstrated  that  it  differs  from  lime.  This 
essay  contains  a  pretty  full  and  accurate  account  of  the 
salts  of  magnesia,  considering  the  state  of  chemistry 
at  the  time  when  it  was  published.  There  is  no 
attempt  to  analyze  any  of  the  magnesian  salbi ;  but, 
in  his  treatise  on  the  analysis  of  mineral  waters,  he 
had  stated  the  quantity  of  nmgncsia  contained  in 
one  hundred  parts  of  several  of  them. 

8.  His  paper  on  the  shapes  of  crystals,  pub- 
lished in  1773,  contains  the  germ  of  the  whole 
theory  of  crystallization  afterwards  developed  by 
M.  Hauy.  He  shows  how,  from  a  very  simple 
primary  form  of  a  mineral,  other  shapes  may  proceed, 
which  seem  to  have  no  connexion  with,  or  re- 
semblance to  the  primary  form.  His  view  of  the 
subject,  so  far  as  it  goes,  is  the  very  same  afterwards 
adopted  by  Hany :  and,  what  is  very  curious, 
Hauy  and  Bergmou  formed  their  theory  from  the 
very  same  crystalline  shape  of  calcareous  spar — from 

"^  ~  diich,  by  mechanical  divisions,  the  same  rhombic 
Kletis  was  extracted  by  both.    Nothing  prevented 


HISTOBT  OF   CUEMISTKT. 


I 


I 


BergmaD  from  anticipating  Hauy  but  a  sufficient 
quantity  of  crystals  to  apply  his  theory  to.* 

9.  In  his  paper  on  silica  he  gives  us  a  history  of 
the  progress  of  chemical  knowledge  respecting  this 
Bubstance.  Its  nature  was  first  accurately  pointed 
out  by  Pott;  though  Glauber,  and  before  him 
Van  Helmont,  were  acquainted  with  the  iiyuor  wfieas, 
or  the  combination  of  silica  and  potash,  which  ii 
soluble  in  water.  Bergman  gives  a  detailed  account 
of  its  properties;  but  he  does  not  suspect  it  to  pos- 
sess acid  properties.  This  great  discovery,  which 
has  thrown  a  new  light  upon  mineral  bodies,  and 
shown  them  all  to  be  chemical  combiuatioas,  waa 
reserved  for  Mr.  Smithson. 

10.  Be[^man'B  experiments  on  the  precious  stones 
constitute  the  first  rudiments  of  the  method  of 
analyzing  stony  bodies.  His  processes  are  very 
imperfect,  and  his  apparatus  but  ill  adapted  to  the 
purpose.  We  need  not  be  surprised,  therefore,  that 
the  results  of  his  analyses  are  extremely  wide  of  the 
truth.  Yet,  if  we  study  his  processes,  we  shall  find 
in  them  the  rudiments  of  the  very  methods  which  we 
follow  at  present.  The  superiority  of  the  modem 
analyses  over  those  of  Bergman  must  in  a  great 
measure  be  ascribed  to  the  platinum  vessels  which 
we  now  employ,  and  to  the  superior  purity  of  the  sub- 
stances which  we  use  as  reagents  in  our  analyses. 
The  methods,  too,  are  simplified  and  perfected.  But 
we  must  not  forget  that  this  paper  of  Bergman's,  im- 
perfect as  it  is,  constitutes  the  commencement  of  tb^ 
art,  and  that  fully  as  much  genius  and  invention 
may  be  requisite  to  contrive  the  first  rude  processes, 
how  imperfect  soever  they  may  be,  as  are  required 
to  bring  these  processes  when  once  invented  to  a 


PROGRESS  OF   CHEMISTRY   IN   SWEDEN.         47 

state  of  comparative  perfection.  The  great  step 
in  analyzing  minerals  is  to  render  them  soluble  in 
acids.  Bergman  first  thought  of  the  method  for 
-accomplishing  this  which  is  still  followed,  namely^ 
fusing  them  or  heating  them  to  redness  with  an 
alkali  or  alkaline  carbonate. 

1 1 .  The  paper  on  fulminating  gold  goes  a  great 
'Way  to  explain  the  nature  of  that  curious  compound 
He  describes  the  properties  of  this  substance,  and 
the  effects  of  alkaline  and  acid  bodies  on  it.  He 
shows  that  it  cannot  be  formed  without  ammonia^ 
and  infers  from  his  experiments  that  it  is  a  com- 
pound of  oxide  of  gold  and  ammonia.  He  explains 
the  fulmination  by  the  elastic  fluid  suddenly  gene- 
Tated  by  the  decomposition  of  the  ammonia. 

12.  The  papers  on  platinum,  carbonate  of  iron, 
nickel,  arsenic,  and  zinc,  do  not  require  many  re- 
marks. They  add  considerably  to  the  knowledge 
which  chemists  at  that  time  possessed  of  these 
bodies  ;  though  the  modes  of  analysis  are  not  such 
as  would  be  approved  of  by  a  modem  chemist ;  nor 
were  the  results  obtained  possessed  of  much  pre- 
cision. 

13.  The  Essay  on  the  Analysis  of  Metallic  Ores 
by  the  wet  way,  or  by  solution,  constitutes  the 
iirst  attempt  to  establish  a  regular  method  of  ana- 
lyzing metallic  ores.  The  processes  are  all  imperfect, 
as  might  be  expected  from  the  then  existing  state  of 
analytical  chemistry,  and  the  imperfect  knowledge 
possessed,  of  the  different  metallic  ores.  But  this 
essay  constituted  a  first  beginning,  for  which  the 
author  is  entitled  to  great  praise.  The  subject  was 
taken  up  by  Klaproth,  and  speedily  brought  to  a 
great  degree  of  improvement  by  the  labours  of  mo- 
dem chemists. 

14.  The  experiments  on  the  way  in  which  minerals 
behave  before  the  blowpipe,  which  Bergman  pul>- 


■ISTOKT  or  CBBMISTRT. 

lished,  were  made  at  Bergrman's  request  fay  Assessor 
Gahn,  of  Pahlun.  who  was  then  his  pupil.  They 
constitute  the  first  results  obtained  by  that  very 
ingenious  and  amiable  man.  He  afterwards  coD' 
tiaued  the  investigation,  and  added  many  improve- 
ments, simplifying  the  reagents  and  the  manner  of 
using  them.  But  he  was  too  indolent  a  man  to 
commit  the  results  of  his  investigations  to  writing. 
Berzelius,  however,  had  the  good  sense  to  see  the 
importance  of  the  facts  which  Gabn  had  ascertained. 
He  committed  them  to  writing,  and  published  them 
for  the  use  of  mineralogists.  They  constitute  the 
book  entitled  "  Berzelius  on  the  Blowpipe,"  wtiicii 
has  been  translated  into  English. 

1 5.  The  object  of  the  Essay  on  Metallic  Precipi- 
tates is  to  determine  the  quantity  of  phlo^slon 
which  each  metal  contains,  deduced  from  the  quan- 
tity of  one  metal  necessary  to  precipitate  a  given 
weight  of  another.  The  experiments  are  obviourif 
made  with  little  accuracy  :  indeed  they  are  not 
susceptible  of  very  great  precision.  lavoisier  after- 
wards made  use  of  the  same  method  to  determine 
the  quantity  of  oxygen  in  the  different  metallic 
oxides;  but  his  results  were  not  more  successftit 
than  those  of  Bergman. 

16.  Bergman's  paper  on  iron  is  one  of  the  most 
important  in  his  whole  works,  and  contributed  veiy 
materially  to  advance  the  knowledge  of  the  cause  M 
the  diiference  between  iron  and  steel.  He  employed 
his  pupils  to  collect  specimens  of  iron  from,  tiie  dif- 
ferent Swedish  forges,  and  gave  them  direction! 
how  to  select  the  proper  pieces.  All  these  spect- 
mens,  to  the  number  of  eighty-nine,  he  subjected  to 
a  chemical  examination,  by  dissolving  them  in  dilute 
sulphuric  acid.  He  measured  the  volume  of  hydro- 
gen gas,  which  he  obtained  by  dissolving  a  given 
weight  of  each,  and  noted  the  quantity  and  the 


PKOO&ESS   OF  CHSMISTRT   IN   SWEDEN.         49 

nature  of  the  undissolved  residue.  The  general 
result  of  the  whole  investigation  was  that  pure  mal- 
leable iron  yielded  most  hydrogen  gas;  steel  less, 
and  cast-iron  least  of  all.  Pure  malleable  iron  left 
the  smallest  quantity  of  insoluble  matter,  steel  a 
greater  quantity,  and  cast-iron  the  greatest  of  all. 
From  these  experiments  he  drew  conclusions  with 
respect  to  the  difference  between  iron,  steel,  and 
cast-iron.  Nothing  more  was  necessary  than  to 
apply  the  antiphlogistic  theory  to  these  experiments, 
(as  was  done  soon  after  by  the  French  chemists,)  in 
order  to  draw  important  conclusions  respecting  the 
nature  of  these  bodies.  Iron  is  a  simple  body; 
steel  is  a  compound  of  iron  and  carbon  ;  and  cast- 
iron  of  iron  and  a  still  greater  proportion  of  carbon. 
The  defective  part  of  the  experiments  of  Bergman  in 
this  important  paper  is  his  method  of  determining 
the  quantity  of  manganese  in  iron.  In  some  speci- 
mens he  makes  the  manganese  amount  to  consider- 
ably more  than  a  third  part  of  the  weight  of  the 
whole.  Now  we  know  that  a  mixture  of  two  parts 
iron  and  one  part  manganese  is  brittle  and  useless. 
We  are  sure,  therefore,  that  no  malleable  iron  what- 
ever can  contain  any  such  proportion  of  manganese. 
The  fact  is,  that  Bergman's  mode  of  separating  man- 
ganese from  iron  was  defective.  What  he  considered 
as  manganese  was  chiefly,  and  might  be  in  many 
cases  altogether,  oxide  of  iron.  Many  years  elapsed 
before  a  good  process  for  separating  iron  from 
manganese  was  discovered. 

17*  Bergman's  experiments  to  ascertain  the 
cause  of  the  brittleness  of  cold-short  iron  need  not 
occupy  much  of  our  attention.  He  extracted  from 
it  a  white  powder,  by  dissolving  the  cold-short  iron 
in  dilute  sulphuric  acid.  This  white  powder  he 
succeeded  in  reducing  to  the  state  of  a  white  brittle 
metal,  by  fusing    it  witK  a    flux  and    cheircoal. 

VOL.    II.  E 


KlaprotU  soon  after  ascertained  that  this  metal  was 
a  phosphuret  of  iron,  and  that  the  white  powder 
WOE  a  phosphate  of  iron :  and  Scheele,  with  hi> 
usual  sagacity,  hit  on  a  method  of  analyzing  thii 
phosphate,  and  thus  demonstrating  its  nature. 
Thus  Bergman's  experiments  led  to  the  knowledge  of 
the  fact  that  cohi-short  iron  owes  its  brittleneas  to 
a  quantity  of  phosphorus  which  it  coiitaina.  It 
ought  to  be  mentioned  that  Meyer,  of  Stettin,  as- 
certained the  same  fact,  and  made  it  known  ts 
chemists  at  about  the  same  time  with  Bergman. 

18.  The  dissertation  on  the  products  of  volcanoes, 
first  published  in  1777,  is  one  of  the  most  striking 
examples  of  the  sagacity  of  Bergman  which  we  pos- 
sess.  He  takes  a  view  of  all  the  substances  certainlj 
known  to  have  been  thrown  out  of  volcanoes,  at- 
tempts to  subject  them  to  a  chemical  analysis,  and 
compares  them  with  the  basalt,  and  greenstone  or 
trap-rocks,  the  origin  of  which  constituted  at  tfait 
time  a  keen  matter  of  dispute  among  geologists. 
He  shows  the  identity  between  lavas  and  basalt  and 
greenstone,  and  therefore  infers  the  identity  of  for- 
mation. This  is  obviously  the  true  mode  of  pro- 
ceeding, and, had  it  been  adopted  at  an  earlierperiodi 
many  of  those  disputes  respecting  the  nature  d 
trap-rocks,  which  occupied  geologists  for  so  long  » 
period,  would  never  have  been  agitated ;  or,  atieasti 
would  have  been  speedily  decided.  The  whole  dis- 
sertation is  HUed  with  valuable  matter,  stiU  well 
entitled  to  the  attention  of  geologists.  His  Dbse^■ 
vations  on  zeolites,  which  he  considered  as  uncon- 
nected with  volcanic  products,  were  very  natural  at 
the  time  when  he  wrote :  though  the  subsequent  ex- 
periments of  Sh- James  Hall,  and  Mr.  Gregory  Watt, 
and,  above  all,  an  accurate  attention  to  the  scaiiB 
from  different  smcl ting-houses,  have  thrown  a  new 
light  on  the  subject,  and  have  shown  the  way  in 


PaOG&CfS  Of  CHEMISTi^T    UT   SWEDEN.         61 

-vhich  zeolitic  crystals  might  easily  have  been  formed 
m,  melted  lava,  provided  circumstances  were  favour^ 
able.  In  fact,  we  find  abundant  cavities  in  real 
Java  from  Vesuvius,  filled  with  zeolitic  crystals. 

19.  The  last  of  the  labours  of  Bergman  which  I 
«hail  notice  here  is  his  Essay  on  Elective  Attractions, 
■which  was  originally  published  in  1775,  but  was 
much  augmented  and  improved  in  the  third 
Tolume  of  his  Opuscula,  published  in  1783.  An 
English  translation  of  this  last  edition  of  the  Essay 
was  made  by  Dr.  Beddoes,  and  was  long  familiar  to 
the  British  chemical  world.  The  object  of  this 
essay  was  to  elucidate  and  explain  the  nature  of 
chemical  affinity,  and  to  account  for  all  the  apparent 
anomalies  that  had  been  observed.  He  laid  it  down 
as  a  first  principle,  that  all  bodies  capable  of  com* 
Inning  chemically  with  each  other,  have  an  attrac- 
tion for  each  other,  and  that  this  attraction  is  a  defi- 
nite and  fixed  force  which  may  be  represented  by  a 
number.  Now  the  bodies  which  have  the  property 
«f  uniting  together  are  chiefly  the  acids  and  the  al- 
kalies, or  bases.  Every  acid  has  an  attraction  for 
each  of  the  alkalies  or  bases ;  but  the  force  of  this 
attraction  differs  in  each.  Some  bases  have  a  strong 
attraction  for  acids,  and  others  a  weak;  but  the 
attractive  force  of  each  may  be  expressed  by 
xiumbers. 

Now,  suppose  that  an  acid  a  is  united  with  a 
base  m  with  a  certain  force,  if  we  mix  the  com- 
pound a  m  with  a  certain  quantity  of  the  base  n, 
which  has  a  stronger  attraction  for  a  than  m  has,  the 
consequence  will  be,  that  a  will  leave  m  and  unite 
with  n; — n  having  a  stronger  attraction  for  a  than  m 
has,  will  disengage  it  and  take  its  place.  In  con- 
sequence of  this  property,  which  Bergman  consi- 
dered as  the  foundation  of  the  whole  oF  the  science, 
the  strengUi  of  affinity  of  one  body  for  another  is 

E  2 


52  HISTO&T  OF  CHEMISTRY* 

determined  by  these  decompositions  and  combina- 
tions. If  n  has  a  stronger  affinity  for  a  than  m  has, 
then  if  we  mix  together  a,  rn,  and  n  in  the  requkite 
proportions,  a  and  n  will  unite  together,  leaving  m 
uncombined  :  or  if  we  mix  n  with  the  compound  a  m, 
m  will  be  disengaged.  Tables,  therefore,  may  be 
drawn  up,  exhibiting  the  strength  of  these  affini- 
ties. At  the  top  of  a  column  is  put  the  name  of  an 
acid  or  a  base,  and  below  it  are  put  the  names  of  all 
the  bases  or  acids  in  the  order  of  their  affinity.  The 
following  Uttle  table  will  exhil^t  a  specimen  of  these 
columns: 

Sulphuric  Acid. 

Barytes 

Strontian 

Potash 

Soda 

Lime 

Magnesia. 

Here  sulphuric  acid  is  the  substance  placed  at  the 
head  of  the  column,  and  under  it  are  the  names  of 
the  bases  capable  of  uniting  with  it  in  the  order  of 
their  affinity.  Barytes,  which  is  highest  up,  has  the 
strongest  affinity,  and  magnesia,  which  is  lowest 
down,  has  the  weakest  affinity.  If  sulphuric  acid 
and  magnesia  were  combined  together,  all  the  bases 
whose  names  occur  in  the  table  above  magnesia 
would  be  able  to  separate  the  sulphuric  acid  from  it. 
Potash  would  be  disengaged  from  sulphuric  acid 
by  barytes  and  strontian,  but  not  by  soda,  lime, 
and  magnesia. 

Such  tables  then  exhibited  to  the  eye  the  strength 
of  affinity  of  all  the  different  bodies  that  are  ca- 
pable of  uniting  with  one  and  the  same  substance, 
and  the  order  in  which  decompositions  are  effected. 
Bergman  drew  up  tables  of  affinity  according  to 


IGRESS    OP   CHEMISTRY   IN   SWEDEN.         53 

e  views  in  fifty-nine  columns.  Each  column  con- 
tEuned  the  name  of  a  particular  substance,  and 
under  it  was  arranged  all  the  bodies  capable  of 
uniting  with  it,  each  in  the  order  of  its  affinity. 
Now  bodies  may  be  made  to  unite,  either  by  raising 
them  together,  and  then  exposing  them  to  heat,  or 
by  dissolving  them  in  water  and  mixing  the  respec- 
tive solutions  together.  Tlie  first  of  these  ways  is 
usually  called  die  dry  way,  the  second  the  moist 
way.  The  order  of  decompositions  often  varies  with 
the  mode  employed.'  On  this  account,  Bergman 
divided  each  of  his  fifty-nine  columns  into  two.  In 
the  first,  he  exhibited  the  order  of  decompositions 
in  the  moist  way,  in  the  second  in  the  dry.  He 
explained  also  the  cases  of  double  decomposition, 
by  means  of  these  unvarying  forces  acting  together 
or  opposing  each  other — and  gave  sixty-four  cases 
of  such  double  decompositions. 

These  views  of  Bergman's  were  immediately  .ac- 
ceded to  by  the  chemical  world,  and  continued  to 
regulate  their  processes  till  Berthollet  published  his 
Chemical  Statics  in  1803.  He  therecalled  in  ques- 
tion the  whole  doctrine  of  Bergman,  and  endea- 
voured to  establish  one  of  the  very  opposite  kind. 
I  shall  have  occasion  to  return  to  the  subject  when  I 
come  to  give  an  account  of  the  services  which  Ber- 
thollet conferred  upon  chemistry, 

I  have  already  observed,  that  we  are  under  oblit 
gallons  to  Bergman,  not  merely  for  the  improve- 
ments which  be  himself  introduced  into  chemistry, 
but  for  the  pupils  whom  he  educated  as  chemists, 
and  the  discoveries  which  were  made  by  those  per- 
sons, whose  exertions  he  stimulated  and  encou- 
raged. Among  those  individuals,  whose  chemical* 
discoveries  were  chiefly  made  known  to  the  world  by 
his  means,  was  Scheele,  certainly  one  of  the  most  es- 
traordinary  men,  and  mast  sagacious  and  industrious 
chemists  that  ever  existed. 


M  msTORT  oi'  cnHMiwfftT. 

Charles  William  Scheeie  was  born  on  the  19ti 
of  December,  1742,  at  StraUund,  the  capital  o( 
Swedish  Pomerania,  where  his  father  was  a  tradn- 
mHn.  He  received  the  first  part  of  his  education 
at  a  private  academy  in  Stralsund,  and  was  Os- 
walds removed  to  a  public  school.  At  %  ver^  earij 
period  be  expressed  a  strong  desire  to  study  ]di8i- 
macy,  and  obtained  Kis  father's  consent  to  m^e 
choice  of  this  profession.  He  was  accordiaglf 
bound  an  apprentice  for  six  years  to  Mr.  Bouch,  aa 
apothecary  in  Gutlieborg,  and  after  his  time  waf 
out,  he  remained  with  him  still,  two  years  loDger. 

It  was  here  that  he  laid  the  groundwork  of  alt 
his  future  celebrity,  aa  we  are  informed  by  Mf. 
Gmnberg,  who  was  his  fellow- apprentice,  suid  af- 
terwards settled  aa  an  apothecary  in  Stralsund.  H» 
■was  at  that  time  very  reserved  and  serious,  but  un- 
commonly diligent.  He  attended  minutely  to  all 
the  processes,  reflected  upon  them  while  alone,  and 
studied  the  writings  of  Neumann,  Lemery,  Ku*- 
kel,  and  Stahl,  witli  indefatigable  industry.  Ba 
likewise  exercised  himself  a  good  deal  in  draw- 
ing and  painting,  and  acquired  some  profideucf 
in  these  accomplishments  without  a  master.  Kan- 
kei's  Laboratorium  was  his  favourite  book,  and  ll« 
was  in  the  habit  of  repeating  experiments  o»t  of  it 
secretly  during  the  night-time.  On  one  occasion, 
as  he  was  employed  in  making  pyrophorns,  his 
fellow -apprentice  was  malicious  enough  to  put  a 
quantity  of  fulminating  powder  into  the  isixturt. 
The  consequence  was  a  violent  explosion,  which, 
as  tt  took  place  in  the  ni^ht,  threw  the  whole  fa- 
mily iitto  confusion,  and  brought  a  very  severe  n^ 
buke  upon  our  young  chemist.  But  tliis  did  noC 
put  a  stop  to  his  industry,  which  he  pursued  so 
constantly  and  judiciously,  that,  by  the  time  his  ap- 
prenticeship was  ended,  there  were  very  few  ehe- 


55 

mists  indeed  who  excelled  him  in  knowledge  and 
practical  skill.  His  fel!ow-ap prentice,  Mr.  Grun- 
berg,  wrote  to  him  in  1774,  requesting  to  know  by 
what  means  he  had  become  such  a  proficient  In 
chemistry,  and  received  the  following  answer  :  "  I 
look  upon  you,  my  dear  friend,  as  my  first  in- 
structor, and  as  the  author  of  all  I  know  on  the 
subject,  in  consequence  of  your  advising  me  to  read 
Neumann's  Chemistry.  The  perusal  of  this  book 
first  gave  me  a  taste  for  experimenting,  myself;  and 
I  very  well  remember,  that  upon  mixing  some  oil 
of  cloves  and  smoking'  spirit  of  nitre  together,  they 
took  fire.  However,  I  kept  this  matter  secret.  I 
have  also  before  my  eyes  the  unfortunate  experi- 
ment which  I  made  with  pyrophorua.  Such  acci- 
dents only  served  to  increase  my  passion  for  making 
experiments." 

In  1765  Scheelewent  to  Malmo,  to  the  house 
of  an  apothecary,  called  Mr.  Kalstrom.  After 
spending-  two  years  in  that  place,  he  went  to  Stock- 
holm, to  superintend  the  apothecary's  sbop  of  Mr. 
Scharenberg.  In  1773  he  exchanged  this  situation 
for  another  at  Upsala,  in  the  house  of  Mr.  Loock. 
It  was  here  that  he  accidentally  formed  an  ac- 
quaintance with  Assessor  Gahn,  of  Fahlun,  who 
was  at  that  time  a  student  at  Upsala,  and  a  zealous 
chemist.  Mr.  Gahn  happening  to  be  one  day  in 
the  shop  of  Mr.  Loock,  that  gentleman  mentioned 
to  him  a  circumstance  which  bad  lately  occurred  to 
him,  and  of  which  he  was  anxious  to  obtain  an 
explanation.  If  a  quantity  of  saltpetre  be  put 
into  a  crucible  and  raised  to  such  a  temperature  aa 
shall  not  merely  melt  it,  but  occasion  an  agitation 
in  it  like  boiling,  and  if,  after  a  certain  time,  the 
crucible  be  taken  out  of  the  fire  and  allowed  to 
cool,  the  saltpetre  still  continues  neutral ;  but  its 
iyK>lierties  are  altered;   for,  if  distilled  vinegar  be 


^   CHEXISTKY, 

poured  upon  it,  red  fumes  are  ^ven  out,  while 
vinegar  produces  no  effect  upon  the  saltpetre  be- 
fore it  has  been  thus  heated.  Mr.  Loock  wished 
&OID  Gahn  an  explanation  of  the  cause  of  this  phe- 
nomenon  :  Galin  was  unable  to  explain  it ;  but  pro- 
mised to  put  tiie  question  to  Professor  Bei^;rwn. 
He  did  so  accordingly,  but  Bergman  was  as  unable 
to  find  an  explanation  as  himself.  On  returning  a 
few  days  after  to  Mr.  Loock's  sliop,  Gahn  was  iii- 
fonned  that  there  was  a  young  man  in  the  shop 
who  had  given  an  explanation  of  the  phenomenon. 
This  young  man  was  Seheele,  who  had  informed 
Mr.  Loock  that  there  were  two  species  of  acids  con- 
founded under  the  name  of  spiril  of  nitre  ;  what 
we  at  present  call  nitric  and  hyponitrous  acidi* 
Nitric  acid  has  a  stronger  affinity  for  potash  thu 
vinegar  has ;  but  hyponitrous  acid  has  a  weaker.  ' 
The  heat  of  the  fire  changes  the  nitric  acid  of  the 
saltpetre  to  hyponitrous:  hence  the  phenomenon 

Gahn  was  delighted  with  the  information,  and 
immediately  fonned  an  acquaintance  with  Scheel^ 
which  soon  ripened  into  friendship.  When  he  in- 
formed Bergman  of  Scheele's  explanation,  the  proJ 
fessor  was  equally  delighted,  and  expressed  an 
eager  desire  to  be  made  acquainted  witn  Seheele  9 
but  when  Gahn  mentioned  the  circumstance  tO' 
Seheele,  and  offered  to  introduce  him  to  Ber^any 
our  young  chemist  rejected  the  proposal  with  stroi^ 
feelings  of  dislike. 

It  seems,  that  while  Seheele  was  in  Stockholm,  I 
had  made  experiments  on  cream  of  tartar,  and  had. 
succeeded  in  separating  from  it  tartaric  acid,  in  a 
state  of  purity.  He  had  also  determined  a  number  of 
the  properties  of  tartaric  acid,  and  examined  several 
of  the  tartrates.  He  drew  up  an  account  of  them 
results,  and  sent  it  to  Bergman.  Bergman,  seeing 
a  paper   subscribed    by    tiie   name    of    a    person 


PR0GEES8   OF  CHEMISTRY   IK   SWEDEN.         57 

who  was  uiikno¥m  to  him,  laid  it  aside  without 
looking  at  it,  and  forgot  it  altogether.  Seheele 
was  very  much  provoked  at  this  contemptuous  and 
unmerited  treatment.  He  drew  up  another  account 
of  his  experiments  and  gave  it  to  Retzius,  who 
sent  it  to  the  Stockholm  Academy  of  Sciences  (with 
some  additions  of  his  own),  in  whose  Memoirs  it 
was  published  in  the  year  1770.*  It  cost  Assessor 
Grahn  considerable  trouble  to  satisfy  Seheele  that 
Bergman's  conduct  was  merely  the  result  of  in- 
advertence, and  that  he  had  no  intention  whatever 
of  treating  him  either  with  contempt  or  neglect. 
After  much  entreaty,  he  prevailed  upon  Seheele 
to  allow  him  to  introduce  him  to  the  professor  of 
chemistry.  The  introduction  took  place  accord- 
in^y,  and  ever  after  Bergman  and  Seheele  con- 
tinued steady  friends — Bergman  facilitating  the  re- 
searches of  Seheele  by  every  means  in  his  power. 
.  So  high  did  the  character  of  Seheele  speedily 
rise  in  Upsala,  that  when  the  Duke  of  Sudermania. 
visited  tlie  university  soon  after,  in  company  with 
Prince  Henry  of  Prussia,  Seheele  was  appointed 
by  the  university  to  exhibit  some  chemical  pro- 
i^ses  before  him.  He  fulfilled  his  charge,  and 
pa:formed  in  different  furnaces  several  curious  and 
striking  experiments.  Prince  Henry  asked  him 
various  questions,  and  expressed  satisfaction  at  the 
answers  given.  He  was  particularly  pleased  when 
informed  that  he  was  a  native  of  Stralsund.  These 
two  princes  afterwards  stated  to  the  professors  that 
tbey  would  take  it  as  a  favour  if  Seheele  could 
have  free  access  to  the  laboratory  of  the  university 
whenever  he  wished  to  make  experiments. 
.  In  the  year  1775,  on  the  death  of  Mr.  Popler^ 
apothecary  at  Koping  (a  small  place  on  the  nortk 

*  Konig.  Vetensk.  Acad.  Handl.  1770,  p.  207. 


KIBTOftT  or  CHEMISTST. 

side  of  the  lake  Mteler),  lie  was  appointed  by  the 
Medical  College  provtsor  of  the  apothecary's  shop. 
In  Sweden  all  the  apothecaries  are  under  the  control 
of  the  Medical  College,  and  no  one  can  open  a 
shop  without  undergoing  an  examination  and  re- 
ceiving licence  from  that  learned  body.  In  the  courae 
of  the  examinations  which  he  was  obliged  to  under- 
go, Scheele  gave  great  proofs  of  his  abilities,  _aaA 
obtained  the  appointment.  In  1777  the  widow  sold 
him  the  shop  and  business,  according  to  a  writtea 
agreement  made  between  them ;  but  they  still  coa- 
tinued  housekeeping  at  their  joint  expense.  He 
had  already  distinguished  himself  by  his  discovery 
of  fluoric  acid,  and  by  his  admirable  paper  on 
manganese.  It  is  said,  too,  that  it  was  he  who, 
made  the  experiments  on  carbonic  acid  ^as,  which 
constitute  the  substance  of  Bef^man's  paper  on  the 
subject,  and  which  confirmed  and  established  Berg- 
man's idea  that  it  was  an  acid.  At  Kiiping  he  conti- 
nued his  researches  with  unremittingperaeverance,and 
made  more  discoveries  than  all  the  chemists  of  his 
time  united  together.  It  was  here  that  he  mods' 
the  experiments  on  air  and  fire,  which  constitute  thft 
materials  of  his  celebrated  work  on  these  subjects.* 
The  theory  which  he  formed  was  indeed  erroneous  t 
but  the  numerous  discoveries  which  the  book  coo- 
tains  must  always  excite  the  admiration  of  every 
chemist.  His  discovery  of  oxygen  gas  had  bees 
anticipated  by  Priestley ;  but  his  analysis  of  atmo- 
spheric air  was  new  and  satisfactory — was  peculiarly 
his  own.  The  processes  by  means  of  which  he  pro- 
cm'ed  oxygen  gas  were  also  new,  simple,  and  ea^, 
and  are  still  followed  by  chemists  in  general.  During 
his  residence  at  Koping  he  published  a  great  num.- 
her  of  chemical  papers,  and  every  one  of  them  con^ 
tained  a  discovery.  The  whole  of  his  time  was 
devoted  to  chemical  investigations.     Every  action 


FsoGHEss  OF  cnEMtsTur  iw  Sweden.       59 

of  liis  life  had  a  tendency  to  forward  the  advance- 
ment of  his  favourite  science;  all  his  thoughts 
were  turned  to  the  same  object ;  all  hia  letters  were 
devoted  to  chemical  observations  and  chemical  dis- 
cussions. Crell's  Annals  was  at  that  time  the  chief 
periodical  work  on  chemistry  in  Germany,  He 
got  the  numbers  regularly  as  tliey  were  publisbed, 
and  was  one  of  Crell's  raoat  constant  and  most 
valuable  con'espon dents.  Every  one  of  his  letters 
published  in  that  work  either  contains  some  new 
chemical  fact,  or  exposes  the  errors  and  mistakes 
of  some  one  or  other  of  Crell's  numerous  corre- 
spondents. 

Scheele's  outward  appearance  was  by  no  means 
prepossessing.  He  seldom  joined  in  the  usual  con- 
versations and  amusements  of  society,  having  neither 
leisure  nor  inclination  for  them.  What  little  time 
he  had  to  spare  from  the  hurry  of  his  profession  was 
always  employed  in  making  experiments.  It  was 
only  when  he  received  visits  from  his  friends,  with 
whom  he  could  converse  on  hia  favourite  science, 
that  he  indulged  himself  in  a  little  relaxation.  For 
such  intimate  friends  he  had  a  sincere  aifection. 
This  regard  was  extended  to  all  tlie  zealous  culti- 
vators of  chemistry  in  every  part  of  the  world, 
whether  personally  known  to  him  or  not.  He  kept 
up  a  correspondence  with  several ;  though  this  cor- 
respondence was  much  limited  by  his  ignorance  of 
all  languages  except  German ;  for  at  least  he 
could  not  write  fluently  in  any  other  language.  His 
chemical  papers  were  always  written  in  German, 
and  translated  into  Swedish,  before  they  w 
aerted  in  the  Memoirs  of  the  Stocklwlm  / 
where  most  of  them  appeared. 

He  was  kind  and  affable  to  all.  Before  he  adopted 
va  opinion  in  science,  he  reflected  maturely  on  it; 
but,  after  he  had  once  embraced  it,  his  opinions  wera 


not  easily  ahaken.  However,  he  did  not  hesitate  to 
give  up  an  opinion  as  soon  as  it  had  been  proved  ti> 
be  erroneous.  Thus,  he  entirely  renounced  the  no- 
tion which  he  once  entertained  that  silica  is  a  com- 
pound of  water  and  fiuoric  acid;  because  it  wb& 
demonstrated,  by  Meyer  and  others,  that  this  siUiCa 
was  derived  from  the  glass  vessels  in  which  tho 
fluoric  acid  was  prepared ;  that  these  glass  vessels 
were  speedily  corrodwi  into  holes ;  and  that,  if  fluoric 
acid  was  prepared  in  metallic  vessels,  and  not  al- 
lowed to  come  in  contact  with  glass  or  any  8ut>^ 
stance  containing  silica,  it  might  be  mixed  with  watec 
without  any  deposition  of  silica  whatever,  i 

It  appears  also  by  a  letter  of  his,  published  in 
Crell's  Annals,  that  he  was  satisfied  of  the  accuracy 
of  Mr.  Cavendish's  esperiments,  showing  that  water 
was  a  compound  of  osygen  and  hydrogen  gases, 
and  of  Lavoisier's  repetition  of  them.  He  attempted 
to  reconcile  this  fact  with  his  own  notion,  that  heat 
is  a  compound  of  oxygen  and  hydrogen.  But  hit 
arguments  on  that  subject,  though  ingenious,  are  not 
satisfactory;  and  there  is  little  doubt  that  if  he  had 
lived  somewhat  longer,  and  had  been  able  to  repeat 
his  own  experiments,  and  compare  them  with  those  of 
Cavendish  and  Lavoisier,  he  would  have  ^ven  up 
his  own  theory  and  adopted  that  of  Lavoisier,  or, 
at  any  rate,  the  explanation  of  Cavendish,  which, 
being  more  conformable  to  his  own  preconceived 
notions,  might  have  been  embraced  by  him  in  pre- 
ference. 

It  is  said  by  Dr.  Crell  that  Scheele  was  invited  over 
to  England,  with  an  offer  of  an  easy  and  advan- 
tageous situation  ;  but  that  his  love  of  quiet  and  re- 
tirement, and  his  partiality  for  Sweden,  where  he 
had  spent  the  greatest  part  of  his  life,  threw  diffi- 
culties in  the  way  of  these  overtures,  and  that  a 
change  in  the  English  ministry  put  a  stop  to  theEft 


PROGRESS  OF   CHEMISTRY   IN   SWEDEIT.         61 

for  tlie  time.  The  iavitation,  Crell  sajs,  was  re- 
newed in  1786,  with  the  offer  of  a  salary  of  300^ 
a-year ;  but  Scheele's  death  put  a  final  stop  to  it. 
I  have  very  great  doubts  about  the  truth  of  this 
statement ;  and,  many  years  a^o,  during  the  lifetime 
of  Sir  Joseph  Banks,  Mr.  Cavendish,  and  Mr.  Kitwan, 
I  made  inquiry  about  the  circumstance ;  but  none 
of  the  chemists  in  Great  Britain,  who  were  at  that 
time  numerous  and  highly  respectable,  had  ever 
heard  of  any  such  negotiatiou.  I  am  utterly  at  a 
loss  to  conceive  what  one  Individual  in  any  of  the 
ministries  of  George  III,  was  either  acquainted  with 
the  science  of  chemistry,  or  at  all  interested  ia 
its  progress.  They  were  all  so  intent  upon  accom- 
plishing their  own  objects,  or  those  oftheir  sovereign, 
that  they  had  neither  time  nor  inclination  to  think 
of  science,  and  certainly  no  money  to  devote  to  any 
of  its  votaries.  What  minister  in  Great  Britain  ever 
attempted  to  cherish  the  sciences,  or  to  reward  those 
who  cultivate  them  with  success  ?  If  we  except  Mr. 
Montague,  who  procured  the  place  of  master  of  the 
Mint  for  Sir  Isaac  Newton,  I  know  of  no  one.  While 
in  every  other  nation  in  Europe  science  is  directly 
promoted,  and  considerable  sums  are  appropriated 
for  its  cultivation,  and  for  the  support  of  a  certain 
number  of  individuals  who  have  shown  themselves 
capable  of  extending  its  boundaries,  not  a  single 
farthing  has  been  devoted  to  any  such  purpose  in 
Great  Britain.  Science  has  been  left  entirely  to 
itself;  and  whatever  has  been  done  by  way  of  pro- 
moting it  has  been  performed  by  the  unaided  ex- 
ertions of  private  individuals.  George  III,  himself 
was  a  patron  of  literature  and  an  encourager  of 
botany.^  He  might  have  been  disposed  to  re- 
ward the  unrivalled  eminence  which  Scheele  had 
attained ;  but  this  he  could  only  have  done  by  be- 
stowing on  him  a  pension  out  of  his  privy  purse. 
No  situation  which  Scheele  could  fill  was  at  his  dis- 


—  SISTORV   OF  CUEMISTKV. 

The  univergilies  and  the  church  were  boti 
shut  against  a  Lutheran ;  and  do  pharniaceiitical 
places  exist  in  this  country  to  which  Scheek  could  ' 
have  been  appointed.  If  any  such  project  i 
existed,  it  must  have  been  an  idea  which  struck 
some  man  of  science  that  such  a  proposal  to  a  i 
of  Scheele's  eminence  would  redound  to  the  credit 
of  the  country.  But  that  such  a  project  should  have 
been  broached  by  a  British  ministry,  or  by  any  ina>  ' 
of  great  political  influence,  is  an  opinion  that  no 
person  would  adopt  who  has  paid  any  attention  to 
the  history  of  Great  Britain  since  the  Revolution  to 
the  present  time. 

Scheele  fell  at  last  a  sacrifice  to  his  ardent  lore  for 
liis  science.  He  was  unable  to  abstain  frtan  ex- 
perimenting, and  many  of  his  experiments  n 
unavoidably  made  in  his  shop,  where  he  was  exposed 
during  winter,  in  the  ungenial  climate  of  Sweden, 
to  cold  draughts  of  air.  He  caught  rheumatina 
in  consequence,  and  the  disease  was  aggravated  by 
his  ardour  and  perseverance  in  his  pursuits.  When 
he  purchased  the  apothecary's  shop  in  which  his 
business  was  carried  on,  he  had  formed  the  resolu* 
tion  of  marrying  the  widow  of  his  predecessor, 
and  he  had  only  delayed  it  from  the  honourable 
principle  of  acquiring,  in  the  first  place,  sufficient 
property  to  render  such  an  alliance  desirable  on 
her  part.  At  length,  in  the  mouth  of  March,  1786, 
be  declared  his  intention  of  marrying  her ;  but  his 
disease  at  this  time  increased  very  fast,  and  Iub 
hopes  of  recovery  daily  diminished.  He  was  sensi- 
ble of  this  ;  but  nevertheless  he  performed  his  pro- 
mise, and  married  her  on  the  19th  of  May,  at  a  time 
when  he  lay  on  his  deathbed.  On  the  Slst,  he  left 
her  by  his  will  the  disposal  of  the  whole  of  his  pro- 
perly; and,  the  same  day  on  which  he  so  tenderly 
provided  for  her,  he  died. 

I  shall  now  endeavour  to  give  the  reader  an  idea 


PBOCBESS   OF  CHEMISTRY   IS   SWEDEN.         63 

of  the  principal  chemical  discoveries  for  which  we 
are  indebted  to  Scheele  ;  his  papers,  with  the  escep- 
tkm  of  his  book  on  air  andJiTe,  which  was  published 
separately  bv  Bergman,  are  ali  to  be  found  either  in 
tiie  Memoirs  of  the  Stockholm  Academy  of  Science, 
or  in  Crell's  Journal;  they  were  collected,  and  a 
latin  translation  of  them,  made  by  Godfrey  Henry 
fichaefer,  published  at  Leipsic,  in  1788,  by  Hen- 
itreit,  the  editor  of  the  three  last  volumes  of  Berg- 
nan'e  OpuBCula.  A  French  translation  of  them  was 
made  in  conaeqaence  of  the  exertions  of  M.  Mor- 
veau  ;  and  an  English  translation  of  them,  in  1786, 
by  means  of  Dr.  Beddoes,  when  he  was  a  student  in 
Edinburgh.  There  are  also  several  German  trans- 
lations, but  I  have  never  had  an  opportunity  of  see- 
ing them. 

1 .  Scheele 's  firBt  paper  was  published  by  Retzius, 
in  1770;  it  gives  a  method  of  obtaining  pure  tartaric 
«cid:  the  process  was  to  decompose  cream  of  tartar 
6y  means  of  chalk.  One  half  of  the  tartaric  acid 
unites  to  the  lime,  and  falls  down  in  the  state  of  a 
white  insoluble  powder,  being  tartrate  of  lime.  The 
'Cream  of  tartar,  thus  deprived  of  half  its  acid,  is 
converted  into  the  neutral  salt  formerly  distinguished 
by  the  name  of  soluble  tartar,  from  its  great  solu- 
bility in  water :  it  dissolves,  and  may  be  obtained  in 
crystals,  by  the  usual  method  of  crystallizing  salts. 
The  tartrate  of  lime  is  washed  with  water,  and  then 
'  ud  with  a  quantity  of  dilute  sulphuric  acid,  just 
Jable  of  saturating  the  lime  contained  in  the  tar- 
le  of  lime  ;  the  mixture  is  digested  for  some  time; 
e  sulphuric  acid  displaces  the  tartaric  acid,  and 
'lines  with  the  lime;  and,  as  the  sulphate  of  lime 
t  very  little  soluble  in  water,  the  greatest  part 
it  precipitates,  and  the  clear  liquor  is  drawn  off: 
onsists  of  tartaric  acid,  held  in  solution  by  water, 
\t  not  quite  free  from  sulphate  of  lime.  By  repeatetl 


I 


64  liisTOKT  or  cnEMisTKT. 

cnncentratioiM,  all  the  snlphaie  of  iime  falls  down, 
and  at  last  the  tartaric  acid  itself  is  obtained  in 
lar^  crystals.  This  procesE  is  still  followed  by  the 
manufacturers  of  this  countfT ;  for  tartaric  acid  is 
used  to  a  rery  considerable  extent  by  the  callco- 
printerB,  in  various  processes ;  for  example,  it  is  ap- 
plied, thickened  with  gum.  to  different  parts  of  cloth 
dyed  Turkey  red  ;  the  cloth  is  then  passed  throng 
water  containing  the  requisite  quantity  of  chloride  of 
lime:  the  tartaric  acid,  uniiing  with  the  lime,  sets  the 
chlorine  at  liberty,  which  immediatelv  destroys  the 
red  colour  wherever  the  tartaric  acid  has  been  ap- 
plied, but  leaves  all  die  other  parts  of  the  cloth  un- 
changed. 

2.  The  paper  on  fluoric  add  appeared  in  the 
Memoirs  ofthe  Stockholm  Academy,  for  1771,  when 
Scheete  was  in  Scharenbei^'s  apothecary's  shop  in 
Stockholm,  where,  doubtless,  the  experiments  were 
made.  Three  years  before,  Mat^;raaf  had  attempted 
an  analysis  of  fluor  spar,  but  had  discovered  notung. 
Schecle  demonBtraled  that  it  is  a  compound  of  lime 
and  a  peculiar  acid,  to  which  he  gave  the  name  of 
fiuoTtc  acid.  This  acid  he  obtained  in  solution  in 
water ;  it  was  separated  from  the  fluor  spar  by  sul- 
phuric,  muriatic,  nitric,  and  phosphoric  acids.  When 
the  fluoric  acid  came  in  contact  with  water,  a  white 
crust  was  formed,  which  proved,  on  examination,  to 
be  silica.  Scheele  at  first  thought  that  this  silica 
was  a  compound  of  fluoric  acid  and  water;  but  it 
was  afterwards  proved  by  Weigleb  and  by  Meyer, 
that  this  notion  is  inaccurate,  and  that  the  silica  was 
corroded  from  the  retort  into  which  the  fluor  spar  and 
sulphuric  acid  were  put.  Bergman,  who  had  adopted 
Scheele's  theory  of  the  nature  of  silica,  was  so  satis- 
fled  by  these  experiments,  that  he  gave  it  up,  as 
Scheele  himself  did  soon  after. 

Scheele  did  not  obtain  fluoric  acid  in  a  state  of 


PROGBE8S  OF  CHEMISTRY   IK   SWEDEN.         65 

purity,  put  only  fluosilidc  acid;  nor  were  chemists 
acquainted  with  the  properties  of  fluoric  acid  till 
Qay-Lussac  and  Thenard  published  their  Recherches 
Physico-chimiques,  in  1811* 

3.  Scheele's  experiments  on  manganese  were  un- 
dertaken at  the  request  of  Bergman,  and  occupied 
him  three  years ;  they  were  published  in  the  Memoirs 
of  the  Stockholm  Academy,  for  1774,  and  consti- 
tute the  most  memorable  and  important  of  all  his 
essays,  since  they  contain  the  discovery  of  two  new 
bodies,  which  have  since  acted  so  conspicuous  a 
part,  both  in  promoting  the  progress  of  the  science, 
and  in  improving  the  manufactures  of  Europe.  These 
two  substances  are  chlorine  and  harytes,  the  first 
account  of  both  of  which  occur  in  this  paper. 

The  ore  of  manganese  employed  in  these  expe- 
riments was  the  hlack  oxide,  or  deutoxide,  of  man- 
ganese, as  it  is  now  called.      Scheele's  method  of 
proceeding  was  to  try  the  effect  of  all  the  different 
reagents  on  it.  It  dissolved  in  sulphurous  and  nitrous 
acids,  and  the  solution  was  colourless.     Dilute  sul- 
{^uric  acid  did  not  act  upon  it,  nor  nitric  acid ;  but 
concentrated  sulphuric  acid  dissolved  it  by  the  as- 
Bistance  of  heat.     The  solution  of  sulphate  of  manga- 
nese in  water  was  colourless  and  crystallized  in  very 
oblique  rhomboidal  prisms,  having  a  bitter  taste. 
Muriatic  acid  effervesced  with  it,  when  assisted  by 
heat,  and  the  elastic  fluid  that  passed  off  had  a  yel- 
lowish colour,  and  the  smell  of  aqua  regia.     He  col- 
lected quantities  of  this  elastic  fluid  (chlorine)  in 
bladders,  and  determined  some  of  its  most  remarka- 
ble properties :  it  destroyed  colours,  and  tinged  the 
bladder  yellow,  as  nitric  acid  does.      This  elastic 
fluid,  in  Scheele's  opinion,  was  muriatic  acid  de- 
prived of  phlogiston.     By  phlogiston  Scheele  meant, 
in  this  place,  hydrogen  gas.    He  considered  muriatic 
acid  as  a  compound  of  chlorine  and  hydrogen.  Now 

VOL.   II.  p 


66  HISTORY   OF  CHEMI8TRT. 

this  is  the  very  theory  that  was  established  by  Davy  • 
in  consequence  of  his  own  experiments  and  tiiose  of 
Gay-Lussac  and  Thenard.  Scheeie's  mode  of  col- 
lecting chlorine  gas  in  a  bladder,  did  not  enable  him 
to  determine  its  characters  with  so  much  precision 
as  was  afterwards  done.  But  his  accuracy  was  so 
great,  that  every  thing  which  he  stated  respecting  it 
was  correct  so  far  as  it  went. 

Most  of  the  specimens  of  manganese  ore  which 
Scheele  examined,  contained  more  or  less  barytes, 
as  has  since  been  determined,  in  combination  with 
the  oxide.  He  separated  this  barytes,  and  deter- 
mined its  peculiar  properties.  It  dissolved  in  nitric 
and  muriatic  acids,  and  formed  salts  capable  of 
crystallizing,  and  permanent  in  the  air.  Neither 
potash,  soda,  nor  lime,  nor  any  betse  whatever,  was 
capable  of  precipitating  it  from  these  acids.  But 
the  alkaline  carbonates  threw  it  down  in  the  state  of 
a  white  powder,  which  dissolved  with  effervescence 
in  acids.  Sulphuric  acid  and  all  the  sulphates  threw 
it  down  in  the  state  of  a  white  powder,  which  was 
insoluble  in  water  and  in  acids.  This  sulphate  can- 
not be  decomposed  by  any  acid  or  base  whatever. 
The  only  practicable  mode  of  proceeding  is  to  con- 
vert the  sulphuric  acid  into  sulphur,  by  heating  the 
salt  with  charcoal  powder,  along  with  a  sufiicieiit 
quantity  of  potash,  to  bring  the  whole  into  fiisioil. 
The  fused  mass,  edulcorated,  is  soluble  in  nitric  or 
muriatic  acid,  and  thus  may  be  freed  from  charcoal, 
and  the  barytes  obtained  in  a  state  of.  purity. 
Scheele  detected  barytes,  also,  in  the  potash  made 
from  trees  or  other  smaller  vegetables;  but  at  that 
time  he  was  unacquainted  with  sulphate  of  haryte^^ 
which  is  so  common  in  various  parts  of  the  earth, 
especially  in  lead-mines. 

To  point  out  all  the  new  facts  contained  in  this 
admirable  essay,  it  would  be  necessary  to  transcribe 


the  whole  of  it.  He  shows  the  remarkable  analogy 
between  manganese  and  metallic  oxides.  Bergman, 
in  an  appendix  affiled  to  Scheele's  paper,  states  his 
reasons  for  being  satisfied  tliat  it  is  reaUy  a  metallic 
oxide.  Some  years  afterwards,  Assessor  Gahn  suc- 
ceeded in  reducing  it  to  the  metallic  state,  and  thus 
dissipating  all  remaining  doubts  on  the  subject. 

4.  In  1775  he  gave  a  new  method  of  obtaining 
benzoic  acid  from  benzoin.  His  method  was,  to 
digest  the  benzoin  with  pounded  chalk  and  water, 
till  the  whole  of  the  acid  had  combined  with  lime, 
and  dissolved  in  the  water.  It  is  requisite  to  take 
care  to  prevent  the  benzoin  from  running  into  clots. 
The  liquid  thus  containing  benzoate  of  lime  in  solu- 
tion is  filtered,  and  muriatic  acid  added  in  sufficient 
quantity  to  saturate  the  lime.  The  benzoic  acid  is 
separated  in  white  flocks,  which  may  be  easily  col- 
lected and  washed.  This  method,  though  sufficiently 
easy,  is  not  followed  by  practical  chemists,  at  least 
in  this  country.  The  acid  when  procured  by  pre- 
cipitation is  not  80  beautiful  as  what  is  procured  by 
sublimation ;  nor  is  the  process  so  cheap  or  so  rapid. 
For  these  reasons,  Scheele's  process  has  not  come 
into  general  use. 

5.  During  the  same  year,  1775,  his  essay  on 
arsenic  and  its  acid  was  also  published  in  the 
Memoirs  of  the  Stockholm  Academy.  In  this  essay 
he  shows  various  processes,  by  means  of  which  white 
arsenic  may  be  converted  into  an  acid,  having  a 
very  sour  taste,  and  very  soluble  in  water.  This  is 
the  acid  to  which  the  name  of  arsenic  acid  has  been 
since  given.  Scheele  describes  the  properties  of 
this  acid,  and  the  salts  which  it  forms,  with  the  dif- 
ferent bases.  He  examines,  also,  the  action  of 
white  arsenic  upon  different  bodies,  and  throws  light 

ton  the  arsenical  salt  of  Macquer. 
]£,  The  object  of  the  little  paper  on  flilica,  clay, 
F  2 


r  ccemistut! 

and  alum,  published  in  the  Memoirs  of  the  Stoclc- 
bolm  Academy,  for  1776,  is  to  prove  that  alumina 
and  silica  are  two  perfectly  di.stitict  bodies,  possessed 
of  different  pToperties.  Tliis  he  does  with  his  usual 
felicity  of  experiment.  He  shows,  also,  that  alumina 
and  lime  are  capable  of  combining  together. 

7.  The  same  year,  and  in  the  same  volume  of  the 
Stockholm  Memoirs,  he  published  his  experimeuts 
on  a  urinary  calculus.  The  calculus  upon  which 
his  experiments  were  made,  happened  to  be  com- 
posed of  vric  acid.  He  determined  the  properties 
of  this  new  acid,  particularly  the  characteristic  one 
of  dissolving;  in  uitric  acid,  and  leaving-  a  beautiful 
pink  sediment  when  the  solution  is  gently  evaporated 
to  dryness. 

8.  In  1778  appeared  his  experiments  on  molyb' 
dena.  What  is  now  called  molybdejia  is  a  soft  , 
foliated  mineral,  having  the  metallic  lustre,  and 
composed  of  two  atoms  sulphui-  united  to  one  atom 
of  metallic  molybdenum.  It  was  known  before, 
from  the  experiments  of  Quest,  that  this  substance 
contains  sulphur.  Scheele  extracted  from  it  a  white 
powder,  which  he  showed  to  possess  acid  properties, 
though  it  was  insoluble  in  water.  He  examined  ths 
characters  of  this  acid,  called  molybdjc  acid,  and 
the  nature  of  the  salts  which  it  is  capable  of  forming 
by  uniting  with  bases. 

9.  In  die  year  1777  was  published  the  Experi- 
ments of  Scheele  on  Air  and  Fire,  with  an  intro- 
duction, by  way  of  preface,  from  Bergman,  who 
seems  to  have  superintended  the  publication,  Thi« 
work  is  undoubtedly  the  most  extraordinary  pro- 
duction that  Scheele  has  left  us  ;  and  is  really  won- 
derful, if  we  consider  the  circumstances  under  whidi 
it  was  produced.  Scheele -ascertained  that  comniim 
air  is  a  mixture  of  two  distinct  elastic  fluids,  one  of ' 
which  alone  is  capable  of  supporting  combustion, 


PROGRESS  OF  CHEMISTRY   IV  SWEDEN*        69 

and  which,  therefore,  he  calls  empyreal  air;  the 
other,  being  neither  capable  of  maintaining  combus- 
tion, nor  of  being  breathed,  he  cMed  foul  air.  These 
are  the  oxygen  and  azote  of  modem  chemists. 
Oxygen  he  showed  to  be  heavier  than  common  air ; 
bodies  burnt  in  it  with  much  greater  splendour  than 
in  common  air.  Azote  he  found  lighter  than  com- 
mon air ;  bodies  would  not  burn  in  it  at  all.  He 
riiowed  that  metallic  calcesy  or  metallic  oxides,  as 
they  are  now  called,  contain  oxygen  as  a  con- 
stituent, and  that  when  they  are  reduced  to  the 
metallic  state,  oxygen  gas  is  disengaged.  In  his 
experiments  on  fulminating  gold  he  shows,  that 
during  the  fulmination  a  quantity  of  azotic  gas  is 
disengaged;  and  he  deduces  from  a  great  many 
curious  facts,  which  are  stated  at  length,  that  am- 
monia is  a  compound  of  azote  and  hydrogen.  His 
apparatus  was  not  nice  enough  to  enable  him  to  de- 
termine the  proportions  of  the  various  ingredients  of 
the  bodies  which  he  analyzed :  accordingly  that  is 
seldom  attempted ;  and  when  it  is,  as  was  the  case 
with  common  air,  the  results  are  very  unsatisfactory. 
He  deduces  from  his  experiments,  that  the  volume 
of  oxygen  gas,  in  common  air,  is  between  a  third 
and  a  fourth :  we  now  know  that  it  is  exactly  a  fifth. 

In  this  book,  also,  we  have  the  first  account  of 
sulphuretted  hydrogen  gas,  and  of  its  properties. 
He  gives  it  the  name  of  stinking  sulphureous  air. 

The  observations  and  new  views  respecting  heat 
and  light  in  this  work  are  so  numerous,  that  I  am 
obliged  to  omit  them :  nor  do  I  think  it  necessary  to 
advert  to  his  theory,  which,  when  his  book  was 
published,  was  exceedingly  plausible,  and  undoubt- 
edly constituted  a  great  step  towards  the  improve- 
ments which  soon  after  followed.  His  own  experi- 
ments, had  he  attended  a  little  more  closely  to  the 
weights,  and  the  alterations  of  them,  would  have  been' 


I 


HISTORT  OF  CHEMISTKT. 

sufficient  to  have  overturned  the  whole  doctrine  of 
phlogiston.  Upon  the  nhole  it  may  be  said,  with 
confidence,  that  there  is  no  chemical  book  in  exist- 
ence which  contains  a  greater  number  of  new  and 
important  facts  than  this  work  of  Scheele,  at  the 
time  it  was  published.  Yet  most  of  his  discoveries 
were  made,  also,  by  others.  Priestley  and  Lavoisier, 
from  the  superiority  of  their  situations,  and  their 
greater  means  of  making  their  labours  speedily 
known  to  the  public,  deprived  him  of  much  of  that 
reputation  to  which,  in  common  circumstances,  he 
would  have  been  entitled,  Priestley  has  been 
blamed  for  the  rapidity  of  his  publications,  and  the 
crude  manner  in  which  he  ushered  his  discoveries  to 
the  world.  But  had  he  kept  them  by  him  till  he  had 
brought  them  to  a  sufficient  degree  of  maturity,  it 
is  obvious  that  he  would  have  been  anticipated  in' 
the  most  important  of  them  by  Scheele. 

10.  In  the  Memoirs  of  the  Stockholm  Academy, 
for  1779,  there  is  a  short  but  curious  paper  of 
Scheele,  giving  an  account  of  some  results  which  he 
had  obtained.  If  a  plate  of  iron  be  moistened  by  a 
solution  of  common  salt,  or  of  sulphate  of  soda,  and 
left  for  some  weeks  in  a  moist  cellar,  an  affloreacence 
of  carbonate  of  soda  covers  the  surface  of  the  plate. 
The  same  decomposition  of  common  salt  and  evo- 
lution of  soda  takes  place  when  unslacked  quicklime 
is  moistened  with  a  solution  of  common  salt,  and 
left  in  a  simitar  situation.  These  experiments  led 
afterwards  to  various  methods  of  decomposing  com- 
mon salt,  and  obtaining  from  it  carbonate  of  soda. 
The  phenomena  themselves  are  still  wrapped  up  ia 
considerable  obscurity.  Berlhollet  attempted  an 
explanation  afterwards  in  his  Chemical  Statics ;  but 
founded  on  principles  not  easily  admissible. 

11.  During  the  same  year,  his  experiments  on 
plumbago  were  published.    This  substance  had  been 


PROGRESS  OF  CHEMISTRY    IN   SWEDEN.         71 

kmg  employed  for  making  black-lead  pencils ;  but 
nothing  was  known  concerning  its  nature.  Scheele, 
with  his  usual  perseverance,  tried  the  effect  of 
all  the  different  reagents,  and  showed  that  it  con- 
sisted chiefly  of  carbon ,  but  was  mixed  with  a 
certain  quantity  of  iron.  It  was  concluded  from 
these  experiments,  that  plumbago  is  a  carburet  of 
iron.  But  the  quantity  of  iron  differs  so  enor- 
mously in  different  specimens,  that  this  opinion  can- 
not be  admitted.  Sometimes  the  iron  amounts  only  to 
one-half  per  cent.,  and  sometimes  to  thirty  per  cent. 
Plumbago,  then,  is  carbon  mixed  with  a  variable 
proportion  of  iron,  or  carburet  of  iron. 

12.  In  1780  Scheele  published  his  experiments 
^1  milk,  and  showed  that  sour  milk  contains  a 
peculiar  acid,  to  which  the  name  of  lactic  acid  has 
been  given. 

He  found  that  when  sugar  of-  milk  is  dissolved  in 
nitric  acid,  and  the  solution  allowed  to  cool,  small 
crystalline  grains  were  deposited.  These  grains  have 
an  acid  taste,  and  combine  with  bases :  they  have 
peculiar  properties,  and  therefore  constitute  a  par- 
ticular acid,  to  which  the  name  of  saclactic  was 
given.  It  is  formed,  also,  when  gum  is  dissolved  in 
nitric  acid ;  on  this  account  it  has  been  called,  mucic 
acid. 

13.  In  1781  his  experiments  on  a  heavy  mineral 
called  by  the  Swedes  tungsten,  were  published. 
This  substance  had  been  much  noticed  on  account 
of  its  great  weight ;  but  nothing  was  known  respect- 
ing its  nature.  Scheele,  with  his  usual  skill  and 
perseverance,  succeeded  in  proving  that  it  was  a 
compound  of  lime  and  a  peculiar  acid,  to  which  the 
name  of  tungstic  acid  was  given.  Tungsten  was, 
therefore,  a  tungstate  of  lime.  Bergman,  from  its 
^eat  weight,  suspected  that  tungstic  acid  was  in 
r^lity  the  oxide  of  a  metal,  and  this  conjecture  was 


T2  BISTORT  OF  CHEXISTKT. 

afienrards  confinned  by  die  EDmyixts,  vlio  ex- 
tracted the  same  acid  from  wolfram,  and  soooeeded 
in  reduciosr  it  to  the  metallic  state. 

14.  In  1782  and  1783  appeared  his  experiments 
on  Prussian  bluCj  in  order  to  discoTer  tlie  nature  of 
the  colouring  matter.  These  experiments  were  ex- 
ceedingly numerous,  and  dsplaj  uncommon  in- 
genuity and  sagacity.  He  suc^eded  in  demon- 
strating that  prussic  acid,  the  name  at  that  time 
given  to  the  colouring  principle,  was  a  compound  of 
carbon  and  azote.  He  pointed  out  a  process  for 
obtaining  prussic  acid  in  a  separate  state,  and  de- 
termined its  properties.  This  paper  threw  at  once  a 
ray  of  light  on  one  of  the  obscurest  parts  of  chemis- 
try. If  he  did  not  succeed  in  elucidating  this  diffi- 
cult department  completely,  the  fault  must  not  be 
ascribed  to  him,  but  to  the  state  of  chemistry  when 
his  experiments  were  made ;  in  fact,  it  would  have 
been  impossible  to  have  gone  further,  till  the  nature 
of  the  different  elastic  fluids  at  that  time  under  in- 
vestigation had  been  thoroughly  established.  Per- 
haps in  1783  there  was  scarcely  any  other  indi- 
vidual who  could  have  carried  this  very  difficult 
investigation  so  far  as  it  was  carried  by  Scheele. 

15.  In  1783  appeared  his  observations  on  the 
sweet  principle  of  oils.  He  observed,  that  when 
olive  oil  and  litharge  are  combined  together,  a  sweet 
substance  separates  from  the  oil  and  fioats  on  the 
surface.  This  substance,  when  treated  with  nitric 
acid,  yields  oxalic  acid.  It  was  therefore  closely 
connected  with  sugar  in  its  nature.  He  obtained 
the  same  sweet  matter  from  linseed  oil,  oil  of  al- 
monds, of  rape- seed,  from  hogs*  lard,  and  from  but- 
ter. He  therefore  concluded  that  it  was  a  principle 
contained  in  all  the  expressed  or  fixed  oils. 

16.  In  1784  he  pointed  out  a  method  by  which 
citric  acid  may  be  obtained  in  a  state  of  purity  from 


PROGBESS  OF  CHEMISTRY   IK    SWEDEN.         73 

lemon-juice.  He  likewise  determined  its  characterSy 
and  showed  that  it  was  entitled  to  rank  as  a  peculiar 
acid. 

It  was  during  the  same  year  that  he  observed  a 
white  earthy  matter,  which  may  be  obtained  by 
washing  rhubarb,  in  fine  powder,  with  a  sufficient 
quantity  of  water.  •  This  earthy  matter  he  decom- 
posed, and  ascertained  that  it  was  a  neutral  salt, 
composed  of  oxalic  acid,  combined  with  lime.  In  a 
subsequent  paper  he  showed,  that  the  same  oxalate 
of  lime  exists  in  a  great  number  of  roots  of  various 
l^ants. 

17.  In  1786  he  showed  that  apples  contain  a 
peculiar  acid,  the  properties  of  which  he  determined , 
and  to  which  the  name  of  malic  acid  has  been  given. 
In  the  same  paper  he  examined  all  the  common  acid 
fruits  of  this  country — gooseberries,  currants,  cher- 
ries, bilberries,  &c.,  and  determined  the  peculiar 
acids  which  they  contain.  Some  owe  their  acidity 
to  malic  acid,  some  to  citric  acid,  and  some  to 
tartaric  acid ;  and  not  a  few  hold  two,  or  even  three, 
of  these  acids  at  the  same  time. 

The  same  year  he  showed  that  the  syderum  of 
Bergman  was  phosphuret  of  iron,  and  the  acidum 
perlatum  of  Proust  biphosphate  of  soda. 

The  only  other  publication  of  Scheele,  during 
1785,  was  a  short  notice  respecting  a  new  mode  of 
preparing  magnesia  alba.  If  sulphate  of  magnesia 
and  common  salt,  both  in  solution,  be  mixed  in>the 
requisite  proportions,  a  double  decomposition  takes 
place,  and  there  will  be  formed  sulphate  of  soda  and 
muriate  of  magnesia.  The  greatest  part  of  the 
f<Hiner  salt  may  be  obtained  out  of  the  mixed  ley 
by  crystallization,  and  then  the  magnesia  alba  may 
be  thrown  down,  from  the  muriate  of  magnesia,  by 
means  of  an  alkaline  carbonate.  The  advantage  of 
this  new  process  is,  the  procuring  of  a  considerable 


74  BISTORT  OF  CHEMISTRY. 

quantity  ofsulphateof  soda  in  exchange  for  common 
■alt,  which  is  a  much  cheaper  substance. 

18.  TTie  last  paper  which  Scheele  published  ap- 
peared in  the  Memoirs  of  the  Stockholm  Academy, 
lor  17SG  :  in  it  he  gave  an  account  of  the  characters 
of  gallic  acid,  and  the  method  of  obtaining  that  acid 
from  nu trails. 

Such  is  an  imperfect  sketch  of  the  principal  dis- 
coveries of  Scheele.  I  have  left  out  of  view  his 
controverstal  papers,  which  have  now  lost  iheir  in- 
terest ;  and  a  few  others  of  minor  importance,  that 
this  notice  might  not  lie  extended  beyond  its  due 
length.  It  will  be  seen  that  Scheele  extended 
greatly  the  number  of  acids ;  indeed,  he  more  than 
doubled  the  number  of  these  bodies  known  when 
he  began  hia  chemical  labours.  The  following  acids 
were  discovered  by  him ;  or,  at  least,  it  iwis  he  that 
first  accurately  pointed  out  their  characters  : 


Fluoric  acid 

Molybdic  acid 

Tungstic  acid 

Lactic  acid 

Gallic  acid 

To  him,  also. 


Tartaric  acid 
Oxalic  acid 
Citric  acid 
Malic  acid 
Saclactic 
Chlorine, 
the  first  knowledge  of  barytes, 


e  characters  of  manganese.  He  determined 
the  nature  of  the  constituents  of  ammonia  and  pnissic  ' 
acid  ;  he  first  determined  the  compound  nature  of    . 
common  air,  and  the  properties  of  the  two  elastic' 
fluids  of  which  it  is  composed.    What  other  chemist,  • 
either  a  contemporary  or  predecessor  of  Scheele,  can 
be  brought  in  competition  with  him  as  a  discoverer?* 
And  all  was  performed  under  the  most  unpropilious 
circumstances,  and  during  the  continuance  of  a  very  ' 
short  life,  for  he  died  in  the  44th  year  of  his  age. 


75 


CHAPTER  XI. 


r&06RB8S   or  8CIENTI7IC  CHEMISTRY  IN  FBANCE. 

I  HATE  already  given  an  account  of  the  state  of 
chanistry  in  France,  during  the  earlier  part  of  the 
eighteenth  century,   as    it  was  cultivated   by  the 
Stahlian  school.      But  the  new  aspect  which  che- 
mistry put  on  in  Britain  in  consequence  of  the  dis- 
coveries of  Black,  Cavendish,  and  Priestley,  and  the 
eonspicuous  part  which  the  gases  newly  made  known 
Was  likely  to  take  in  the  future  progress  of  the 
Science,  drew  to  the  study  of  chemistry,  sometime 
after  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century,  a  man 
Vho  was  destined  to  produce  a  complete  revolution, 
^nd  to  introduce  .the  same  precision,  and  the  same 
Accuracy  of  deductive  reasoning  which  distinguishes 
^be  other  branches  of  natural  science.     This  man  was 
)jaToisier. 

Antoine  Laurent  Lavoisier  was  born  in  Paris  on 

tihe  26th  of  August,  1743.     His  father  being  a  man 

^f  opulence  spared  no  expense  on  his  education. 

^is  taste  for  the  physical  sciences  was  early  dis- 

)[>layed,  and  the  progress  which  he  made  in  them  was 

Xincommonly  rapid.     In  the  year  1764  a  prize  was 

offered  by  the  French  government  for  the  best  and 

tnost  economical  method  of  lighting  the  streets  of 

5U1  extensive  city.     Young  Lavoisier,  though  at  that 

time  only  twenty-one  years  of  age,  drew  up  a  memoir 


on  the  subject  which  obtained  the  gold  medal.  This 
essay  was  inserted  in  the  Memoirs  of  the  French 
Academy  of  Sciences,  for  1768.  It  was  during  that 
year,  when  be  was  only  twenty-five  yeara  of  age 
that  he  became  a  -member  of  that  scientific  body. 
By  this  time  he  was  become  fully  conscious  of  hia  own 
strength  ;  but  he  hesitated  for  some  time  to  which 
of  the  scieaees  he  should  devote  his  attention.  He 
tried  pretty  early  to  determine,  experimentally,  some 
chemical  questions  which  at  that  time  drew  the  at- 
tention of  practical  chemists.  For  example:  an 
elaborate  paper  of  his  appeared  in  the  Memoirs  of 
the  French  Academy,  for  1768,  on  the  composition 
of  gipsum — a  point  at  that  time  not  settled ;  but 
-which  Lavoisier  proved,  as  Margraaf  had  done 
before  him,  to  be  a  compound  of  sulphuric  acid  and 
lime.  In  the  Memoirs  of  the  Academy,  for  1770t 
two  papers  of  his  appeared,  (he  object  of  which  was 
to  determine  whether  water  could,  as  Margraaf  had 
pretended,  be  converted  into  siiica by  long-continued 
digesdou  in  glass  vessels.  Lavoisier  found,  as  Mar- 
srraaf  stated,  that  when  water  is  digested  for  a  long 
time  in  a  glass  retort,  a  little  sihca  makes  its  ap- 
pearance ;  but  he  showed  that  this  silica  was  wholly 
derived  from  the  retort.  Glass,  it  is  well  known,  ia 
a  compound  of  silica  and  a  fixed  alkali.  When 
water  is  long  digested  on  it  the  glass  is  slightly  coI*l 
roded,  a  little  alkali  is  dissolved  in  the  water  and  \ 
little  silica  separated  iu  the  form  of  a  powder. 

He  turned  a  good  deal  of  his  attention  also  to 
ffcology,  and  made  repeated  journeys  with  Guettard 
into  idmost  every  part  of  France.  The  object  is 
view  was  an  accurate  description  of  the  mineralogical 
structure  of  France — an  object  accomplished  to  ft 
considerable  extent  by  the  indefatigable  exertions  of 
Guettard,  who  published  different  papers  on  the  sut- 
ject  in  the  Memoirs  of  the  French  Academy,  acc( 


pnoGitESS  OF  cmemisthy  i\  fiia-\ce.       77 
panied  with  geological  maps ;  which  were  at  that 

The  matheniatical  sciences  also  engrossed  a  consi- 
derable share  of  his  attentiaa.  In  short  he  dis- 
played no  great  predilection  for  one  study  more  than 
another,  but  seemed  to  grasp  at  every  branch  of 
acience  with  equal  avidity.  While  in  this  state  of 
suspension  he  became  acquainted  with  the  new  and 
unexpected  discoveries  of  Black,  Cavendish,  and 
Priestley,  respecting  the  gases.  This  opened  a  new 
creation  to  his  view,  and  finally  determined  him  to 
devote  himself  to  scientific  chemistry. 

In  the  year  1774  he  published  a  volume  under 
the  title  of  "  Essays  Physical  and  Chemical."  Itwas 
divided  into  two  parts.  The  first  part  contained 
an  historical  detail  of  every  thing  that  had  been  done 
on  the  subject  of  airs,  from  the  time  of  Paracelsus 
down  to  the  year  1774.  We  have  the  opinions  and 
experiments  of  Van  Helmont,  Boyle,  Hales,  Boer- 
liaave,  Stahl,  Venel,  Saluces,  Black,  Macbride, 
Cavendish,  and  Priestley.  We  have  the  history  of 
■ri  jifeyer's  acidum  pingue,  and  the  controversy  carried 
in  Germany,  between  Jacquin  on  the  one  hand, 
i  Crans  and  Smeth  on  the  other, 
\  In  the  second  part  Lavoisier  relates  his  own  expe- 
'tnents  upon  gaseous  sub.?tanccs.  In  the  first  four 
•s  he  shows  the  truth  of  Dr.  Black's  theory  of 

r.     In  the  4th  and  5th  chapters  he  proves 

tiiat  when  metallic  calces  are  reduced,  by  heating 
them  with  charcoal,  an  elastic  fluid  is  evolved,  pre- 
cisely of  the  same  nature  with  carbonic  acid  gas. 
In  the  8th  chapter  he  shows  that  when  metals  are 
.  calcined  their  weight  increases,  and  that  a  portion 
~  t  ail  equal  to  their  increase  in  weight  is  absorbed 
"le  surrounding  atmosphere.  He  observed 
a  given  bulk  of  air  calcination  goes  on  to  a 
■  :Aertain  point  and  then  stops  altogether,  and  that  air 


I 


?   CHEMISTUT.  ^^^ 

in  which  metals  have  been  calcined  does  not  support 
combustion  so  well  as  it  did  before  any  such  process 
was  performed  in  it.  He  also  burned  phosphorus  in  a 
given  ■volume  of  air,  observed  tlie  diminution  of 
volume  of  the  air  and  the  increase  of  the  weight  of 
the  phosphorus. 

Nothing  in  these  essays  indicates  the  smallest  sus- 
picion that  ale  was  a  mixture  of  two  distinct  fluids, 
and  that  only  one  of  them  was  concerned  in  com- 
bustion and  calcination;  although  this  had  been 
already  deduced  by  Scbecle  from  his  own  experi- 
ments, and  though  Priestley  had  already  discovered 
the  existence  and  peculiar  properties  of  oxygen  gaa. 
It  is  obvious,  however,  that  Lavoisier  was  on  the 
way  to  make  these  discoveries,  and  had  neither 
Scheele  nor  Priestley  been  fortunate  enough  to  hit 
upon  oxygen  gas,  it  is  exceedingly  likely  that  be 
would  himself  have  been  able  to  have  made  that  dis- 
covery. 

Dr.  Priestley,  however,  happened  to  be  in  Paris 
towards  the  end  of  1774,  and  exhibited  to  Lavoisier,in 
his  own  laboratory  in  Paris,  the  method  of  procuring 
oxygen  gas  from  red  oxide  of  mercury.  This  dis- 
covery altered  all  his  views,  and  speedily  su^;ested 
not  only  the  nature  of  atmospheric  air,  but  also  what 
happens  during  the  calcination  of  metals  and  the 
combustion  of  burning  bodies  in  general.  These 
opinions  when  once  formed  he  prosecuted  with  un- 
wearied industry  for  more  than  twelve  years,  and 
after  a  vast  number  of  experiments,  conducted  with 
a  degree  of  precision  hitherto  unattempted  in  chemi- 
cal investigations,  be  boldly  imdertook  to  disprove 
the  existence  of  phlogiston  altogether,  and  to  ex- 
plain all  the  phenomena  hitherto  supposed  to  depend 
upon  that  principle  by  the  simple  combination  or  se- 
paration of  oxygen  from  bodies. 

In  these  opinions  he  had  for  some  years  no  coadju- 


of  the  j^cademy  of  Sci 
vert.  He  was  followed  by  M,  Fourcroy,  and  soon 
after  Guyton  de  Morveau,  who  was  at  that  time  the 
editor  of  the  chemical  department  of  the'  Encyclo- 
pedie  Methodique,  was  invited  to  Paris  by  Lavoisier 
and  prevailed  upon  to  join  the  same  party.  This 
was  followed  by  a  pretty  vigorous  controversy,  in 
which  Lavoisier  and  his  associates  gained  a.  signal 
victory. 

Lavoisier,  after  Buffon  and  Tillet,  was  treasurer  to 
the  academy,  into  the  accounts  of  which  he  intro- 
duced both  economy  and  order.  He  was  consulted 
by  the  National  Convention  on  the  most  eligible 
means  of  improving  the  manufacture  of  assignats, 
and  of  augmenting  the  dlfBculty  of  forging  them. 
He  turned  his  attention  also  to  political  economy, 
and  between  1773  and  1785  he  allotted  240 
arpents  in  the  Vendoraois  to  experimental  agricul- 
tuie,  and  increased  the  ordinary  produce  by  one- 
half.  In  1791  the  Constituent  Assembly  invited 
him  to  draw  up  a  plan  for  rendering  more  simple 
the  collection  of  the  taxes,  which  produced  an  ex- 
cellent report,  printed  under  the  title  of  "  Territorial 
Riches  of  France." 

In  1776  he  was  employed  by  Tin-got  to  inspect 
the  manufactory  of  gunpowder;  which  he  made  to 
carry  120  toiaes,  instead  of  90.  It  is  pretty  gene- 
rally known,  that  during  the  war  of  the  Americam 
levolution,  the  French  gunpowder  was  much  supe- 
rior to  the  Eritlsh ;  but  it  is  perhaps  not  so  generally 
understood,  that  for  this  superiority  the  French  go- 
vemment  were  indebted  to  the  abilities  of  Lavoisier. 
During  the  war  of  the  French  revolution,  the  quality 
of  the  powder  of  the  two  nations  was  reversed;  the 
English  being  considerably  superior  to  that  of  the 
French,  and  capable  of  carrying  further.  This  was 
put  to  the  test  in  a  very  remarkable  way  at  Cadiz. 


V^  nm-XT  '.9  ^'4^  *  If  HB" 


tjt  »  HI  *rrtrKii»5.T  -wl^xT  i:  irxk  iic  lat  st": 

%a*/ii  'A   i.1    tv.ciis'.rtrr.   fc*  zL'iTs:  ^:ni£c:iil  to  Ui 

jamuiTh-^jtf'j^^i.  c-f  c-errtTiriisr  lit   rersiat,  aid 

UTTfi*-  AcowrLDriT.  r/L  tbe  *:ac-!  Miv.  17d4,  he 
%-iii*fT*A  OT*  til*:  v^oid.  TTii  r^eiiiv-eastit  fannos- 
fc^ri^inl.  at  tL«;  esiriT  &re  of  nfrr-oae.  It  has  beca 
^i*:!^^  that  FocrcroT.  vko  at  t&ai  time  posiessed 
coriii»J<l^mtbJe  infl'jeoce.  ici^iit  hsive  saved  him  had  he 
l>ef^n  6\s\^jvA  Xfj  have  exerted  himself.  But  dui 
arx'<j«ation  ha.9  never  been  snppDited  by  any  efi- 
dtuf'^.  Lavoisier  was  a  man  ot  too  mach  eminence 
to  \m:  overlooked,  and  no  accused  person  at  diafc 
time  could  be  saved  unless  he  was  forgotten.  A 
f/af^r  was  presented  to  the  tribunal,  drawn  up  hj 
M.  Halle,  (^ving  a  catalogue  of  the  works,  and  a 
recapitulation  of  the  merits  of  Lavoisier;  but  it  ms 
thrown  aside  without  even  being  read,  and  M.  HalK 
ha/J  reason  to  congratulate  himself  that  his  useleai 
attfsmpts  V}  save  Lavoisier  did  not  terminate  in  hit 
own  destruction. 

l^voisier  was  tall,  and  possessed  a  countenance 
full  of  l>eni^nity,  through  which  his  genius  shone 
forth  conspicuous.  He  was  mild,  humane,  sociable^ 
obli(^ingy  and  hc  displayed  an  incredible  degree  of 
activity.  His  influence  was  great,  on  account  of  hie 
fortune,  his  reputation,  and  the  place  which  he  held 
in  th(!  treasury;  but  all  the  use  which  he  made  of  it 
was  to  do  good.  His  wife,  whom  he  married  in 
1771 ,  was  Marie- Anna- Pierette-Paulze,  daughter  of 
a  farmer-general,  who  was  put  to  death  at  the  same 
time  witli  her  husband;  she  herself  was  imprisoned. 


PE06RESS  OF   CHEMISTRY   IN   FRANCE.  81 

but  saved  by  the  fortunate  destruction  of  the  dictator 
himself,  together  with  his  abettors.  It  would  appear 
that  she  was  able  to  save  a  considerable  part  of  her 
husband's  fortune:  she  afterwards  married  Count 
Rumford,  whom  she  survived. 

Besides  his  volume  of  Physical  and  Chemical 
Essays,  and  his  Elements  of  Chemistry,  published  in 
1789,  Lavoisier  was  the  author  of  no  fewer  than 
sixty  memoirs,  which  were  published  in  the  volumes 
of  the  Academy  of  Sciences,  from  1772,  to  1788,  or 
in  other  periodical  works  of  the  time.  1  shall  take 
a  short  review  of  the  most  important  of  these  me- 
moirs, dividing  them  into  two  parts :  I.  Those  that 
are  not  connected  with  his  peculiar  chemical  theory; 
II.  Those  which  were  intended  to  disprove  the  ex- 
istence of  phlogiston,  and  establish  the  anti-phlo- 
gistic theory. 

I.  I  have  already  mentioned  his  paper  on  gypsum, 
published  in  the  Memoirs  of  the  Academy,  for  1768. 
He  proves,  by  very  decisive  experiments,  that  this 
salt  is  a  compound  of  sulphuric  acid,  lime,  and 
water.  But  this  had  been  already  done  by  Margraaf, 
in  a  paper  inserted  into  the  Memoirs  of  the  Berlin 
Academy,  for  1750,  entitled  "  An  Examination  of 
the  constituent  parts  of  the  Stones  that  become 
luminous."  The  most  remarkable  circumstance 
attending  this  paper  is,  that  an  interval  of  eighteen 
years  should  elapse  without  Lavoisier's  having  any 
knowledge  of  this  important  paper  of  Margraaf;  yet 
he  quotes  Pott  and  Cronstedt,  who  had  written  on 
the  same  subject  later  than  Margraaf,  at  least  Cron- 
stedt. What  makes  this  still  more  singular  and 
unaccountable  is,  that  a  French  translation  of  Mar- 
graaf *s  Opuscula  had  been  published  in  Paris,  in 
the  year  1762.  That  a  man  in  Lavoisier's  circum- 
stances, who,  as  appears  from  his  paper,  had  paid 
considerable  attention  to  chemistry,  should  not  have 

VOL.  II.  G 


82  UISTOBT   OF  CHEMIST&T. 

perused  the  writings  of  one  of  the  most  eminent 
chemists  that  had  ever  existed,  when  they  were  com- 
pletely within  his  power,  constitutes,  I  think,  one 
of  the  most  extraordinary  phenomena  in  the  history 
of  science. 

2.  If  a  want  of  historical  knowledge  appears  con- 
spicuous in  Lavoisier's  first  chemical  paper,  the  same 
remark  cannot  be  applied  to  his  second  paper,  "  On 
the  Nature  of  Water,  and  the  Experiments  by  which 
it  has  been  attempted  to  prove  the  possibility  of  chang- 
ing it  into  Earth,"  which  was  inserted  in  the  Memoirs 
of  the  French  Academy,  for  1770.  This  memoir  is 
divided  into  two  parts.  In  the  first  he  gives  a 
history  of  the  progress  of  opinions  on  the  subject, 
beginning  with  Van  Helmont's  celebrated  experi- 
ment on  the  willow ;  then  relating  those  of  Boyle, 
Triewald,  Miller,  Eller,  Gleditch,  Bonnet,  Kraft, 
Alston,  Wallerius,  Hales,  Duhamel,  Stahl,  Boer- 
haave,  Geoffrey,  Margraaf,  and  Le  Roy.  This  first 
part  is  interesting,  in  an  historical  point  of  view, 
and  gives  a  very  complete  account  of  the  progress 
of  opinions  upon  the  subject  from  the  very  first 
dawn  of  scientific  chemistry  down  to  his  own  time. 
There  is,  it  is  true,  a  remarkable  difference  between 
the  opinions  of  his  predecessors  respecting  the  con- 
version of  water  into  earth,  and  the  experiments  of 
Margraaf  on  the  composition  of  selenite.  The  for- 
mer were  inaccurate,  and  were  recorded  by  him 
that  they  might  be  refuted ;  but  the  experiments  of 
Margraaf  were  accurate,  and  of  the  same  nature 
with  his  own.  The  second  part  of  this  memoir  con- 
tains his  own  experiments,  made  with  much  pre- 
cision, which  went  to  show  that  the  earth  was  de- 
rived from  the  retort  in  which  the  experiments  of 
Margraaf  were  made,  and  that  we  have  no  proof 
whatever  that  water  may  be  converted  into  earth. 

But  these  experiments  of  Lavoisier,  though  they 


PROGRESS  Oy  CHEMISTRY   IK   FRANCE.         S3 

completely  disproved  the  inferences  that  Mai^raaf 
drew  from  his  observations,  by  no  means  demon* 
strated  that  water  might  not  be  converted  into  dif- 
ferent animal  and  vegetable  substances  by  the  pro- 
cesses of  digestion.  Indeed  there  can  be  no  doubt 
that  this  is  tbe  case,  and  that  the  oxygen  and  hydro- 
gen of  which  it  is  composed,  enter  into  the  compo- 
sition of  by  far  the  greater  number  of  animal  and 
T^etable  bodies  produced  by  the  action  of  the  func- 
tions of  living  animals  and  vegetables.  We  have 
no  evidence  that  the  carbon,  another  great  consti- 
taent  of  vegetable  bodi^,  and  the  carbon  and  azote 
vhich  constitute  so  great  a  proportion  of  animal 
substances,  have  their  origin  from  water.  They" 
Are  probably  derived'  from  the  food  of  plants  and 
animals,  and  from  the  atmosphere  which  surrounds 
them,  and  which  contains  both  of  these  principles 
m  abundance. 

Whether  the  silica,  lime,  alumina,  magnesia,  and 
iron,  that  exist  in  small  quantity  in  plants,  be 
derived  from  water  and  the  atmosphere,  is  a  question 
which  we  are  still  unable  to  answer.  But  the  ex- 
periments of  Schrader,  which  gained  the  prize  offered 
by  the  Berlin  Academy,  in  the  year  1800,  for  the 
best  essay  on  the  following  subject :  To  determine 
the  earthy  constituents  of  the  different  kinds  of 
com,  and  to  ascertain  whether  these  earthy  parts 
are  formed  by  the  processes  of  vegetation,  show 
at  least  that  we  cannot  account  for  their  production 
in  any  other  way.  Schrader  analyzed  the  seeds  of 
wheat,  rye,  barley,  and  oats,  and  ascertained  the 
quantity  of  earthy  matter  which  each  contained. 
He  then  planted  these  different  seeds  in  flowers  of 
sulphur,  and  in  oxides  of  antimony  and  zinc,  water- 
ing them  regularly  with  distilled  water.  They  vege- 
tated very  well.  He  then  dried  the  plants,  and 
analyzed  what  had  been  the  produce  of  a  given 

G  2 


84  HISTORY   OF   CHEMISTRY. 

weight  of  seed,  and  he  found  that  the  earthy  matter 
in  each  was  greater  than  it  had  been  in  the  seeds 
from  which  they  sprung.  Now  as  the  sulphur  and 
oxides  of  zinc  and  antimony  could  furnish  no  earthy 
matter,  no  other  source  remains  but  the  water  with 
which  the  plants  were  fed,  and  the  atmosphere  with 
which  they  were  surrounded.  It  may  be  said,  in- 
deed, that  earthy  matter  is  always  floating  about 
in  the  atmosphere,  and  that  in  this  way  they  may 
have  obtained  all  the  addition  of  these  principles 
which  they  contained.  This  is  an  objection  not 
easily  obviated,  and  yet  it  would  require  to  be 
obviated  before  the  question  can  be  considered  as 
answered. 

3.  Lavoisier's  next  paper,  inserted  in  the  Memoirs 
of  the  Academy,  for  1771,  was  entitled  "  Calcula- 
tions and  Observations  on  the  Project  of  the  esta- 
blishment of  a  Steam-engine  to  supply  Paris  with 
Water."  This  memoir,  though  long  and  valuable, 
not  being  strictly  speaking  chemical,  I  shall  pass 
over.  Mr.  Watt's  improvements  seem  to  have  been 
unknown  to  Lavoisier.  Indeed  as  his  patent  was 
only  taken  out  in  1769,  and  as  several  years  elapsed 
before  the  merits  of  his  new  steam-engine  became 
generally  known,  Lavoisier's  acquaintance  with  it  in 
1771  could  hardly  be  expected. 

4.  In  1772  we  find  a  paper,  by  Lavoisier,  in  the 
Memoirs  of  the  Academy,  "  On  the  Use  of  Spirit  of 
Wine  in  the  analysis  of  Mineral  Waters."  He 
shows  how  the  earthy  muriates  may  be  separated 
from  the  sulphates  by  digesting  the  mixed  mass  in 
alcohol.  This  process  no  doubt  facilitates  the  sepa- 
ration of  the  salts  from  each  other:  but  it  is  doubt- 
ful whether  the  method  does  not  occasion  new  in- 
accuracies that  more  than  compensate  the  facility 
of  such  separations.  When  different  salts  are  dis- 
solved in  water  in  small  quantities,  it  may  very  well 


PROGRESS   OF   CHEMISTRY   IN   FRANCE.  85 

happen  that  they  do  not  decompose  each  other,  being 
at  too  great  a  distance  from  each  other  to  come 
within  the  sphere  of  mutual  action.     Thus  it  is  pos- 
sible that  sulphate  of  soda  and  muriate  of  time  may 
exist  together  in  the  same  water.     But  if  we  con- 
centrate this  water  very  much,  and  still  more,  if  we 
evaporate  to  dryness,  the  two  salts  will  gradually 
come  into  the  sphere  of  mutual  action,  a  double 
decomposition  will  take  place,  and  there  will   be 
formed  sulphate  of  lime  and  common  salt.     If  upon 
the  dry  residue  we  pour  as  much  distilled  water  as 
was  driven  off  by  the  evaporation,  we  shall  not  be 
able  to  dissolve  the  saline  matter  deposited ;  a  por-». 
tion  of  sulphate  of  lime  will  remain  in  the  state  of  ^ 
a  powder.     Yet  before  the  evaporation,  all  the  saUne- 
contents  of  the  water  were  in  solution,  and  they 
continued  in  solution  till  the  water  was  very  much 
concentrated.     This  is  sufficient  to  show  that  thq. 
nature  of  the  salts  was  altered  by  the  evaporation. 
If  we  digest  the  dry  residue  in  spirit  of  wine,  we  may 
dissolve  a  portion  of  muriate  of  lime,  if  the  quantity 
of  that  salt  in  the  original  water  was  greater  than 
the  sulphate  of  soda  was  capable  of  decomposing: 
but  if  the  quantity  was  just  what  the  sulphate  of 
soda  could  decompose,  the   alcohol  will   dissolve 
nothing,  if  it  be  strong  enough,  or  nothing  but  a 
little  common  salt,  if  its  specific  gravity  was  above 
0*820.   We  cannot,  therefore,  depend  upon  the  salts 
which  we  obtain  after  evaporating  a  mineral  watei; 
to  dryness,  being  the  same  as  those  which  existed 
in  the  mineral  water  itself.     The  nature  of  the  salts 
must  always  be  determined  some  other  way. 

5.  In  the  Memoirs  of  the  Academy,  for  1772 
(published  in  1776),  are  inserted  two  elaborate  papers 
of  Lavoisier,  on  the  combustion  of  the  diamond.  The 
combustibility  of  the  diamond  was  suspected  by 
I^ewton,  from  its  great  refractive  power.     His  sus- 


86  HISTORY   OF   CHEHISTET. 

picion  was  confinned  in  1694,  by  Cosmo  III.,  Grand 
Duke  of  Tuscany,  who  employed  ATerani  and  Tar- 
gioni  to  try  the  effect  of  powerful  buming-giasses 
upon  diamonds.  They  were  completely  dissipated 
by  the  heat.  Many  years  after,  the  Emperor  Fran- 
cis I.  caused  various  diamonds  to  be  exposed  to  the 
heat  of  furnaces.  They  also  were  dissipated,  with- 
out leaving  any  trace  behind  them.  M.  Darcet, 
professor  of  chemistry  at  the  Royal  Collie  of 
Paris,  being  employed  with  Count  Lauragais  in  a 
set  of  experiments  on  the  manufacture  of  porcelain, 
took  the  opportunity  of  trying  what  effect  the  in- 
tense heat  of  the  porcelain  furnaces  produced  upon 
various  bodies.  Diamonds  were  not  forgotten.  He 
found  that  they  were  completely  dissipated  by  the 
heat  of  the  furnace,  without  leaving  any  traces 
behind  them.  Darcet  found  that  a  violent  heat  wvA 
not  necessary  to  volatilize  diamonds.  The  heat  of 
an  ordinary  furnace  was  quite  sufficient.  In  1771 
a  diamond,  belonging  to  M.  Godefroi  Villetaneuse, 
was  exposed  to  a  strong  heat  by  Macquer.  It  was 
placed  upon  a  cupel,  and  raised  to  a  temperature 
high  enough  to  melt  copper.  It  was  observed  to  be 
surrounded  with  a  low  red  flame,  and  to  be  more 
intensely  red  than  the  cupel.  In  short,  it  exhibited 
unequivocal  marks  of  undergoing  real  combustion. 

These  experiments  were  soon  after  repeated  by 
Lavoisier  before  a  large  C9mpany  of  men  of  rank  and 
science.  The  real  combustion  of  the  diamond  was 
established  beyond  doubt;  and  it  was  ascertained 
also,  that  if  it  be  completely  excluded  from  the  air, 
it  may  be  exposed  to  any  temperature  that  can  be 
raised  in  a  furnace  without  undergoing  any  altera- 
tion. Hence  it  is  clear  that  the  diamond  is  not  a 
volatile  substance,  and  that  it  is  dissipated  by  heat, 
not  by  being  volatilized,  but  by  being  burnt. 

The  object  of  Lavoisier  in  his  experiments  was  to 


PROGRESS  OF   CHEMISTRY   IK   FRANCE.  87 

determine  the  nature  of  the  substance  into  which 
the  diamond  was  converted  by  burning.  In  the  first 
part  he  gives  as  usual  a  history  of  every  thing  which 
had  been  done  previous  to  his  own  experiments  on 
the  combustion  of  the  diamond.  In  the  second  par* 
we  have  the  result  of  his  own  experiments  upon  the 
same  subject.  He  placed  diamonds  on  porcelain 
supports  in  glass  jars  standing  inverted  over  water 
and  over  mercury ;  and  filled  with  common  air  and 
with  oxygen  gas.* 

The  diamonds  were  consumed  by  means  of  burn- 
M*g-gl2isse8.  No  water  or  smoke  or  soot  made  their 
appearance,  and  no  alteration  took  place  on  the  bulk 
of  the  air  when  the  experiments  were  made  over  mer- 
cury. When  they  were  made  over  water,  the  bulk  of 
the  air  was  somewhat  diminished.  It  was  obvious 
from  this  that  diamond  when  burnt  in  air  or  oxygen 
gas,  is  converted  into  a  gaseous  substance,  which  is  ab- 
sorbed by  water.  On  exposing  air  in  which  diamond 
had  been  burnt,  to  lime-water,  a  portion  of  it  was 
absorbed,  and  the  lime-water  was  rendered  milky. 
From  this  it  became  evident,  that  when  diamond 
is  burnt,  carbonic  add  is  formed,  and  this  was  the 
only  product  of  the  combustion  that  could  be  dis- 
covered. 

Lavoisier  made  similar  experiments  with  charcoal, 
burning  it  in  air  and  oxygen  gas,  by  means  of  a 
burning-glass.  The  results  were  the  same :  carbonic 
acid  gas  was  formed  in  abundance,  and  nothing 
else.  These  experiments  might  have  been  employed 
to  support  and  confirm  Lavoisier's  peculiar  theory, 
and  they  were  employed  by  him  for  that  purpose 
afterwards.     But  when  they  were  originally  pub- 

*  The  reader  will  bear  in  mind  that  though  the  memoir 
was  inserted  in  the  Mem.  de  TAcad.,  for  1772,  it  was  in  fact 
published  in  1776^  and  the  experiments  were  made  in  1775 
and  1776. 


OJ  CHEHISTRy. 

lished,  no  such  intention  appeared  evident ;  thougb 
doubtless  he  entertained  it, 

6.  In  the  second  volume  of  the  Journal  de  Physi- 
que, for  1772,  there  is  a  short  paper  by  Lavoisier 
on  the  conversion  of  water  into  ice.  M.  Des- 
marets  had  given  the  academy  an  account  of  Dr. 
Black's  experiments,  to  deleimine  the  latent  heat  of 
water.  This  induced  Lavoisier  to  relate  his  ex- 
periments on  the  same  subject.  He  does  not 
infonn  ua  whether  they  were  made  in  consequence 
of  his  having  become  acquainted  with  Dr.  Black's 
theory,  though  there  can  he  no  doubt  that  this  must 
have  been  the  case.  The  experiments  related  in 
this  short  paper  are  not  of  mucti  consequence.  But 
I  have  thought  it  worth  while  to  notice  it  because  it 
authenticates  a  date  at  which  Lavoisier  was  ac- 
quainted with  Dr.  Black's  theory  of  latent  heat,     ./ 

7.  In  the  third  volume  of  the  Journal  de  Physique, 
there  is  an.  account  of  a  set  of  experiments  made  by 
Bourdelin,  iVlalouin,  iUacquer,  Cadet,  Lavoisier,  and 
Baum^  on  the  while-lead  ore  of  PuUoweu.  The 
report  is  drawn  up  by  Baum^.  The  nature  of  the 
ore  is  not  made  out  by  these  experiments.  They 
were  mostly  made  in  the  dry  way,  and  were  chiefly 
intended  to  show  that  the  ore  was  not  a  chloride  of 
lead.     It  was  most  likely  a  phosphate  of  lead. 

8.  In  the  Memoirs  of  the  Academy,  for  1774,  wa 
have  the  experiments  of  Trudaine,  de  Monligny,  > 
Macquer,  Cadet,  Lavoisier,  and  Brisson,  with  tha 
great  burning-glass  of  M.  Trudaine.  The  results 
obtained  cannot  be  easily  abridged,  and  are  not  of 
sufficient  importance  to  be  given  in  detail.  i 

9.  Analysis  of  some  waters  brought  from  Italy  by 
M.  Cassini,  junior.  This  short  paper  appeared  ia 
the  Memoirs  of  the  Academy,  for  1777.  Hie 
waters   in  question   were  brought  from  alum-pits^ 


PROGRESS   OF   CHEMISTRY    IN    FRANCE.  89 

and  were  found  to  contain  alum  and  sulphate  of 
iron. 

10.  In  the  same  volume  of  the  Memoh's  of  the 
Academy,  appeared  his  paper  "  On  the  Ash  em- 
ployed by  the  Saltpetre-makers  of  Paris,  and  on  its 
use  in  the  Manufacture  of  Saltpetre."  This  is  a 
curious  and  valuable  paper ;  but  not  sufficiently  im- 
portant to  induce  me  to  give  an  abstract  of  it  here. 

11.  In  the  Memoirs  of  the  Academy,  for  1777, 
appeared  an  elaborate  paper,  by  Lavoisier,  '*  On  the 
Combination  of  the  matter  of  Fire,  with  Evaporable 
Fluids,  and  the  Formation  of  Elastic  aeriform  Fluids." 
In  this  paper  he  adopts  precisely  the  same  theory 
as  Dr.  Black  had  long  before  established.  It  is 
remarkable  that  the  name  of  Dr.  Black  never 
occurs  in  the  whole  paper,  though  we  have  seen 
that  Lavoisier  had  become  acquainted  with  the 
doctrine  of  latent  heat,  at  least  as  early  as  the  year 
1772,  as  he  mentioned  the  circumstance  in  a  short 
paper  inserted  that  year  in  the  Journal  de  Physique, 
and  previously  read  to  the  academy. 

-  12.  In  the  same  volume  of  the  Memoirs  of  the 
Academy,  we  have  a  paper  entitled  "  Experiments 
made  by  Order  of  the  Academy,  on  the  Cold  of  the 
year  1775,  by  Messrs.  Bezout,  Lavoisier,  and  Van- 
dermond."  It  is  sufficiently  known  that  the  begin- 
tting  of  the  year  1776  was  distinguished  in  most 
parts  of  Europe  by  the  weather.  The  object  of  this 
paper,  however,  is  rather  to  determine  the  accuracy 
of  the  different  thermometers  at  that  time  used  in 
France,  than  to  record  the  lowest  temperature  which 
had  been  observed.  It  has  some  resemblance  to  a 
paper  drawn  up  about  the  same  time  by  Mr.  Ca- 
irendish,  and  published  in  the  Philosophical  Trans- 
ictions. 

13.  In  the  Memoirs  of  the  Academy,  for  1778, 
BLppeared  a  paper  entitled  "  Analysis  of  the  Water* 
[>f  the  Lake  Asphaltes,  by  Messrs.  Macquer,  La« 


90  BISTORT  OF  CHEMiayRT. 

sier,  and  Sage."  This  water  ia  known  to  be  satu- 
rated with  salt.  It  is  needless  to  state  the  result 
of  the  analyi^is  contained  in  this  paper,  because  it  Is 
quit£  inaccurate.  Chemical  analysis  had  not  at  that 
time  made  sufficient  prog'ress  to  enable  chemists  to 
analyze  mineral  waters  with  precisioD. 

The  observation  of  Lavoisier  and  Guettard,  which 
appeared  at  the  same  time,  on  a  species  of  steatite, 
which  is  converted  by  the  fire  into  a  fine  biscuit  of 
porcelain,  and  on  two  coal-mines,  the  one  in  Francbe- 
Comt^,  the  other  in  Alsace,  do  not  require  to  be  par- 
ticularly noticed. 

14.  In  the  Mem.  de  i'Academie,  for  1780  (pub- 
lished in  1784),  we  have  a  paper,  by  Lavoisier,  "  Oa 
certain  Fluids  which  may  be  obtained  in  an  aerifbrtft 
State,  at  a  degree  of  Heat  not  much  higher  than  the' 
mean  Temperature  of  the  Earth."  These  fluids  arft 
sulphuric  ether,  alcohol,  and  water.  He  points  out 
the  boiling  temperature  of  these  liquids,  and  shows 
that  at  that  temperature  the  vapour  of  these  bodies 
possesses  the  elasticity  of  common  air,  and  is  per' 
maneut  as  long  as  the  high  temperature  continues. 
He  burnt  a  mixture  of  vapour  of  ether  and  oxj^eu 
gas,  and  showed  that  during  the  combustion  car- 
bonic acid  gas  is  formed.  Lavoisier's  notions  t&- 
specting  these  vapours,  and  what  hindered  the  liquids 
at  the  boiling  temperature  from  being  all  converted 
into  vapour  were  not  quite  correct.  Our  opinioitf 
respecting  steam  and  vapours  in  general  were  first 
rectified  by  Mr.  Dalton. 

15.  In  the  Mem.  de  1' Academic,  for  1780,  sp 
peared  also  the  celebrated  paper  on  heat,  by  Lavoi> 
sier  and  Laplace.  The  object  of  this  paper  was  tt 
determine  the  specific  heat  of  various  bodies,  and  t» 
investigate  the  proposals  that  had  been  made  by  Dr* 
Irvine  for  determining  ihe  point  at  which  a  thermo- 
meter would  stand,  if  plunged  into  a  body  destitute 
of  heat.     This  point  is  usually  called  the  real  zero. 


PROGRESS    OF   CHEMISTRY   IV   FkANCE.         91 

ihej  begin  by  describing  an  instrument  which  they 
tad  contrived  to  measure  the  quantity  of  heat  which 
eaves  a  body  while  it  is  cooling  a  certain  number 
►f  degrees.  To  this  instrument  they  gave  the  name 
f  calorimeter.  It  consisted  of  a  kind  of  hollow, 
unrounded  on  every  side  by  ice.  The  hot  body 
ras  put  into  the  centre.  The  heat  which  it  gave 
mt  while  cooling  was  all  expended  in  melting  the 
Be,  which  was  of  the  temperature  of  32*,  and  the 
|«antity  of  heat  was  proportional  to  the  quantity 
►f  ice  melted.  Hence  the  quantity  of  ice  melted, 
while  equal  weights  of  hot  bodies  were  cooling  a 
«rtain  number  of  degrees,  gave  the  direct  ratios 
(f  the  specific  heats  of  each.  In  this  way  they 
ibtained  the  following  specific  heats : 

Specific  heat. 

Water 1 

Sheet-iron     ....  0-109985 

Glass  without  lead  (crystal)      .  0- 1929 

Mercury        ....  0-029 

Quicklime     ....  0-21689 

Mixture  of  9  water  with  16  lime  0-439116 

Sulphuric  acid  of  1-87058       .  0-334597 

4  sulphuric  acid,  3  water         .  0-603162 

4  sulphuric  acid,  5  water         .  0-663102 

Nitric  acid  of  1-29895    .         .  0-661391 

9|  nitric  acid,  1  lime      .         .  0-61895 

1  saltpetre,  8  water   .     .         .  0-8167 

Their  experiments  were  inconsistent  with  the  con- 
tusions drawn  by  Dr.  Irvine,  respecting  the  real 
ero,  from  the  diminution  of  the  specific  heat,  and 
he  heat  evolved  when  sulphuric  acid  was  mixed 
rith  various  proportions  of  water,  &c.  If  the  ex- 
leriments  of  Lavoisier  and  Laplace  approached 
learly  to  accuracy,  or,  indeed,  unless  they  were 
[uite  inaccurate,  it  is  obvious  that  the  conclusions 
ti  Irvine  must  be  quite  erroneous.     It  is  remarkable 


93  HISTORY  or  CHEHISTRT. 


that  though  the  esjjeriments  of  Crawford,  and  hVe- 
wise  those  of  Wilcke,  and  of  several  others,  on  spe- 
cific heat  had  been  pubhshed  before  this  paper  made 
its  appearance,  no  allusion  whatever  is  made  to 
these  publications.  Were  we  to  trust  to  the  infor- 
mation communicated  in  the  paper,  the  doctrine  of 
specific  heat  originated  with  Lavoisier  and  Laplace. 
It  is  true  that  in  the  fourth  part-of  the  paper,  which 
treats  of  combustion  and  respiration.  Dr.  Crawford's 
theory  of  animal  heat  is  mentioned,  showing  clearly 
that  our  authors  were  acquainted  with  his  book  on 
the  subject.  And,  as  this  theory  is  founded  on  the 
different  specific  heats  of  bodies,  there  could  be  no 
doubt  that  he  was  acquainted  with  that  doctrine. 

16.  In  the  Mem.  de  I'Academie,  for  1780,  occur 
the  two  following  memoirs  ; 

Report  made  to  the  Royal  Academy  of  Sciences 
on  the  Prisons.  By  Messrs.  Duhamel,  De  Mon- 
tigny,  Le  Roy,  Tenon,  Tillet,  and  Lavoisier. 

Report  on  the  Process  for  separating  Gold  and 
Silver.  By  Messrs.  Macqiier,  Cadet,  lavoisier* 
Baume,  Cornette,  and  Berthollet. 

17,  In  the  Mem.  de  I'Academie,  for  1781,  we  find 
a  memoir  by  Lavoisier  and  Laplace,  on  the  elec- 
tricity evolved  when  bodies  are  evaporated  or  sub- 
limed. The  result  of  these  experiments  wa«,  that 
when  water  was  evaporated  electricity  was  always 
evolved.  They  concluded  from  these  observations, 
that  whenever  a  body  changes  its  state  electricity  i> 
always  evolved.  But  when  Saussure  attempted  tt> 
repeat  these  observations,  he  could  not  succeed. 
And,  from  the  recent  experiments  of  Ponillet,  it 
seems  to  follow  that  electricity  is  evolved  only  when 
bodies  undct^o  chemical  decomposition  or  combina- 
tion. Such  experiments  depend  so  much  upon 
very  minute  circumstances,  which  are  apt  to  escape 
the  attention  of  the  observer,  that  implicit  confidence 


PROGRESS  OF  CHEMISTRY  IN  FRANCE.    93 

cannot  be  put  in  them  till  they  have  been  often  re- 
peated, and  varied  in  every  possible  manner. 
.  18.  In  the  Memoires  de  TAcademie,  for  1781, 
there  is  a  paper  by  Lavoisier  on  the  comparative 
value  of  the  different  substances  employed  as  articles 
of  fuel.  The  substances  compared  to  each  other 
are  pit-coal,  coke,  charcoal,  and  wood.  It  would 
serve  no  purpose  to  state  the  comparison  here,  as  it 
would  not  apply  to  this  country ;  nor,  indeed,  would 
it  at  present  apply  even  to  France. 
•  We  have,  in  the  same  volume,  his  paper  on  the 
mode  of  illuminating  theatres. 

19.  In  the  Memoires  de  T Academic,  for  1782 
(printed  in  1785),  we  have  a  paper  by  Lavoisier  on 
a  method  of  augmenting  considerably  the  action  of 
fire  and  of  beat.  The  method  which  he  proposes  is 
a  jet  of  oxygen  gas,  striking  against  red-hot  char- 
coal. He  gives  the  result  of  some  trials  made  in 
this  way.  Platinum  readily  melted.  Pieces  of 
ruby  or  sapphire  were  softened  sufficiently  to  run 
together  into  one  stone.  Hyacinth  lost  its  colour, 
and  was  also  softened.  Topaz  lost  its  colour,  and 
melted  into  an  opaque  enamel.  Emeralds  and 
garnets  lost  their  colour,  and  melted  into  opaque 
coloured  glasses.  Gold  and  silver  were  volatilized  ; 
all  the  other  metals,  and  even  the  metallic  oxides, 
were  found  to  burn.  Barytes  also  burns  when  ex- 
posed to  this  violent  heat.  This  led  Lavoisier  to 
conclude,  as  Bergman  had  done  before  him,  that 
Barytes  is  a  metallic  oxide.  This  opinion  has  been 
fully  verified  by  modern  chemists.  Both  silica  and 
alumina  were  melted.  But  he  could  not  fuse  lime 
nor  magnesia.  We  are  now  in  possession  of  a  still 
more  powerful  source  of  heat  in  the  oxygen  and 
hydrogen  blowpipe,  whicl^,  is  capable  of  fusing  both 
lime  and  magnesia,  and,  indeed,  every  substance  which 
can  be  raised  to  the  requisite  heat  without  burning 


or  beiog  volatiliEed-  This  subject  was  prosecuted 
ttill  further  by  Lavoisier  in  another  paper  inserted  is 
a  ■ubsequcnl  volumeofthe  Memoires  de  I'Academie. 
He  deccriUfS  the  effect  on  rock-crvstaJ,  quartz, 
■audBtooe,  sand,  phosphorescent  quartz,  miUc  quaitx, 
a^ate,  chalcedony,  cornelian,  flint,  prase,  nephrite, 
jaiper,  feUpar,  &c. 

20.  In  the  same  volume  is  inserted  a  memoir  "  On 
the  Nature  of  the  aeriform  elastic  Fluids  which  are 
disengaged  from  certain  animal  Substances  in  a  state 
of  Fermentation."  He  found  thai  a  quantity  of  re- 
cent human  faces,  amounling  to  about  five  cubic 
inches,  when  kept  at  a  temperature  approaching  to 
60*  emitted,  every  day  for  a  month,  about  half  a 
cubic  inch  of  gas.  This  gas  was  a  mixture  of  eleven 
parts  carbonic  acid  gas,  and  one  part  of  an  inflam- 
mable gas,  which  burnt  with  a  blue  flame,  and  was 
therefore  probably  carbonic  oxide.  Five  cubic  incbei 
of  old  human  faces  from  a  necessary  kept  in  the 
Kauifl  temperature,  during  the  first  fifteen  daya 
(emitted  about  a  third  of  a  cubic  inch  of  gas  each  day^ 
Mid  during  each  of  the  second  fifteen  days,  about  one 
fourth  of  a  cubic  inch.  This  gas  was  a  mixture  of 
thirty-eight  volumes  of  carbonic  acid  gas,  and  sixty* 
two  volumes  of  a  combustible  gas,  burning  with  ft 
blue  flame,  and  probably  carbonic  oxide. 

Freih  fteces  do  not  effervesce  with  dilute  sulphuric 
acid,  but  old  moist  fs^ces  do,  and  emit  about  eig^t 
times  their  volume  of  carbonic  acid  gas.  Quicklime^ 
or  caustic  potash,  mixed  with  fsces,  puts  a  stop  to 
the  evolution  of  gas,  doubtless  by  preventing  all 
fermentation.  During  efl'ervescence  of  feecal  matter 
tha  air  Burroundlng  it  is  deprived  of  a  little  of  its 
oxygen,  probubly  in  consequence  of  its  combining' 
with  the  nascent  inflammable  gas  which  is  slowly 
disuTigaged. 

11.  We  come  now  to  the  new  theory  of  combustion 


PROGRESS  OF   CHEMISTRY   IN   PRANCE.         95 

Qf  which  Lavoisier  was  the  author,  and  upon  which 
his  reputation  with  posterity  will  ultimately  depend. 
Upon  this  subject,  or  at  least  upon  matters  more  or 
less  intimately  connected  with  it,  no  fewer  thaa 
twenty-seven  memoirs  of  his,  many  of  them  of  a 
very  elaborate  nature,  and  detailing  expensive  and 
difficult  experiments,  appeared  in  the  different 
volumes  of  the  academy  between  1774  and  1788. 
The  analogy  between  the  combustion  of  bodies  and 
the  calcination  of  metals  had  been  already  observed 
by  chemists,  and  all  admitted  that  both  processes 
were  owing  to  the  same  cause ;  namely,  the  emission 
of  phlogiston  by  the  burning  or  calcining  body. 
The  opinion  adopted  by  Lavoisier  was,  that  during 
burning  and  calcination  nothing  whatever  left  the 
bodies,  but  that  they  simply  united  with  a  portion  of 
the  air  of  the  atmosphere.  When  he  first  conceived 
this  opinion  he  was  ignorant  of  the  nature  of  atmo- 
spheric air,  and  of  the  existence  of  oxygen  gas.  But 
alter  that  principle  had  been  discovered,  and  shown 
to  be  a  constituent  of  atmospherical  air,  he  soon  re- 
cognised that  it  was  the  union  of  oxygen  with  the 
burning  and  calcining  body  that  occasioned  the  phe- 
nomena. Such  is  the  outline  of  the  Lavoisierian  theory 
stated  in  the  simplest  and  fewest  words.  It  will  be 
requisite  to  make  a  few  observations  on  the  much-agi- 
tated question  whether  this  theory  originated  withhim. 
It  is  now  well  known  that  John  Key,  a  physician 
at  Bugue,  in  Perigord,  published  a  book  in  1630, 
in  order  to  explain  the  cause  ofthe  increase  of  weight 
which  lead  and  tin  experience  during  their  calcina- 
tion. After  refuting  in  succession  all  the  different 
explanations  of  this  increase  of  weight  which  had 
been  advanced,  he  adds,  "  To  this  question,  then, 
supported  on  the  grounds  already  mentioned,  I  an- 
swer, and  maintain  with  confidence,  that  the  increase 
of  weight  arises  from  the  air,  which  is  condensed^ 


I 


rendered  heavy  and  adhesive  by  the  violent  and  long- 
continued  heat  ofthe  furnace.  This  air  mixea  itself 
with  the  calx  (frequent  agitation  conducing),  and 
attaches  itself  to  the  minutest  molecules,  in  the 
same  manner  as  water  renders  heavy  sand  which  is 
agitated  with  it,  and  moistens  and  adheres  to  the 
smallest  grains."  There  cannot  be  the  least  donht 
from  this  passage  that  Key's  opinion  was  precisely 
the  same  as  the  original  one  of  Lavoisier,  and  had 
lavoisier  done  nothing  more  than  merely  state  in 
general  terms  that  during  calcination  air  unites  with 
the  calcining  bodies,  it  might  have  been  suspected 
that  he  had  borrowed  his  notions  from  those  of  Rey. 
But  the  discovery  of  oxygen,  and  the  numerous  and 
decisive  proofs  which  he  brought  forward  that  during 
burning  and  calcination  oxygen  unites  with  the 
burning  and  calcining  body,  and  that  this  oxygen 
may  be  again  separated  and  exhibited  in  its  origi- 
nal elastic  slate  oblige  us  to  alter  our  opinion.  And 
whether  we  admit  that  he  borrowed  his  original 
notion  from  Rey,  or  that  it  suggested  itself  to 
own  mind,  the  case  will  not  he  materially  altered. 
For  it  is  not  the  man  who  forms  the  first  vague  no- 
tion of  a  thing  that  really  adds  to  the  stock  of  our 
knowledge,  but  he  who  demonstrates  its  truth  and 
accurately  determines  its  nature. 

Rey'a  book  and  his  opinions  were  little  known. 
He  had  not  brought  over  a  single  convert  to  his 
doctrine,  a  sufficient  proof  that  he  had  not  esta- 
blished it  by  satisfactory  evidence.  We  may  there- 
fore believe  Lavoisier's  statement,  when  he  assures 
us  that  when  he  first  formed  his  theory  he  was 
ignorant  of  Rey,  and  never  had  heard  that  any  such 
book  had  been  published. 

The  theory  of  combustion  advanced  by  Dr.  Hook, 
in  1665,  in  his  Micrographia,  approaches  still  nearer 
to  that  of  Lavoisier  than  the  theory  of  Rey,  and 


PROGRESa    OF    CUEMiaTRY    1 

uideed,  so  far  as  he  has  explained  it,  the  coincidence 
is  exact.  According  to  Hook  there  exists  in  com- 
mon air  a  certain  substance  which  is  hke,  if  not 
the  very  same  with  that  which  is  fixed  in  saltpetre. 
This  substance  has  the  property  of  dissolving  all 
combustibles;  but  Duly  when  their  temperature  is 
sufficiently  raised.  The  solution  takes  place  with 
such  rapidity  that  it  occasions  fire,  which  in  his 
opinion  is  mere  motion.  The  dissolved  substance 
may  be  in  the  state  of  air,  or  coagulated  in  a  liquid 
or  solid  form.  The  quantity  of  this  solvent  in  a 
given  bulk  of  air  is  incomparably  less  than  in  the 
same  bulk  of  saltpetre.  Hence  the  reason  why 
a  combustible  continues  burning  but  a  short  time 
in  a  given  bulk  of  air :  the  solvent  is  soon  saturated, 
and  then  of  course  the  combustion  is  at  an  end. 
This  explains  why  combustion  requires  a  constant 
supply  of  fresh  air,  and  why  "it  is  promoted  by 
forcing  in  air  with  bellows.  Hook  prombed  to  de- 
velop  this  theory  at  greater  length  in  a  subsequent 
ivork :  but  he  never  fulGUed  his  promise ;  though 
in  his  Lampas,  published  about  twelve  years  after- 
wards, he  gives  a  beautiful  chemical  explanation  of 
flame,  founded  on  the  very  same  theory. 

From  the  very  general  terras  in  which  Hook  ex- 
presses himself,  we  cannot  judge  correctly  of  the 
extent  of  his  knowledge.  This  theory,  so  far  as 
it  goes,  coincides  exactly  with  our  present  notions 
on  the  subject.  His  solvent  is  oxygen  gas,  which 
constitutes  one-fifth  part  of  the  volume  of  the  air, 
but  exists  in  much  greater  quantity  in  saltpetre. 
It  combines  with  the  burning  body,  and  the  com- 
pound formed  may  either  be  a  gas,  a  liquid,  or 
a  solid,  according  to  the  nature  of  the  body  sub- 
jected to  combustion. 

kLavoisier  nowhere  alludes  to  this  theory  of  Hook 
_te  gives  the  least  hint  that  he  had  ever  heard  of 
^roL.  II.  II 


it.  This  IB  the  mare  surprising,  because  Hook  was 
ft  initn  of  i^reat  celebrity:  and  his  Micrograpfaia,  as 
contiuninfc  tli«  ori^Dul  figures  and  detcriptions  of 
muiy  naturol  objecu,  is  well  known,  not  merely 
in  Great  BriUin,  but  on  the  continent.  At  the 
Bamo  time  il  must  be  recollected  that  Hook'a  theory 
it  tiipptirtcd  by  no  evidence;  that  it  is  a  mere 
■iwrtjon,  and  that  nobody  adopted  it.  Even  then, 
if  we  were  to  admit  that  Lavoisier  was  at^uainted 
with  Ibis  theory,  it  vould  derogate  very  little  from 
hia  merit,  which  consisted  in  investigating  the  phe- 
nomena of  combustion  and  calcination,  and  in  show- 
ing tlial  oxvjiren  became  a  constituent  of  the  boniC 
tand  calcined  bodies. 
About  ten  years  after  the  publication  of  the 
Micrographia,  Dr.  Mayow,  of  Oxford,  published 
hii  EisavB.  In  the  first  of  which,  De  Sal-nitro  et 
Spiritu  nitro-aereo,  he  obviously  adopts  Dr.  Hook's 
tlioory  of  ctimbuelion,  and  he  applies  it  with  great 
infTunuity  to  explain  the  nature  of  respiration.  Dr. 
Mayow's  book  hud  been  forgotten  when  the  atten- 
tion of  mcu  of  science  was  attracted  to  it  by  Dr. 
beddocs.  Dr.  Yeats,  of  Bedford,  published  a  very 
inlereating  work  on  the  merits  of  Mayow,  in  1798. 
It  will  bo  ndmitted  at  once  by  every  person  who 
lake*  the  trouble  of  perusing  Mayow's  tract,  that 
he  was  not  sutisticd  with  mere  theory;  but  prored  ' 
by  actual  experiment  that  air  was  absorbed  during 
combustion,  and  altered  during  respiration.  He 
liHH  given  ti^turcs  of  his  apparatus,  and  they  are 
very  much  of  the  same  nature  with  those  afterwards 
made  use  of  by  Lavoisier.  It  would  be  wrong, 
tlierefure,  to  deprive  Mayow  of  the  reputation  to 
which  he  is  entitled  for  hia  ingeniously-contrived 
and  well-executed  experiments,  it  must  be  ad- 
inittcHt  that  he  proved  both  the  absorption  of  air 
duiing  combustion  and  respiration;    but  even  this 


PA0GRX8S  07  CHEMISTRY  IN  TRANCE.         99 

does  not  take  much  from  the  fair  fame  of  Lavoisier. 
The  analysis  of  air  and  the  discovery  of  oxygen 
gas  really  diminish  the  analogy  between  the  theories 
of  Mayow  and.  Lavoisier,  or  at  any  rate  the  full 
investigation  of  the  subject  and  the  generalization 
of  it  belong  exclusively  to  Lavoisier. 

Attempts  were  made  by  the  other  French  che- 
mists, about  the  beginning  of  the  revolution,  to 
associate  themselves  with  Laivoisier,  as  equally  en- 
titled with  himself  to  the  merit  of  the  antiphlogistic 
theory;  but  Lavoisier  himself  has  disclaimed  the 
partnership^  Some  years  before  his  death,  he  had 
formed  the  plan  of  collecting  together  all  his  papers 
relating  to  the  antiphlogistic  theory  and  publishing 
tbem  in  one  work;  but  his  death  interrupted  the 
{ttoject.  However,  his  widow  afterwards  published 
the  first  two  volumes  of  the  book,  which  were  com-> 
plete  at  the  time  of  his  death.  In  one  of  these 
folumes  Lavoisier  claims  for  himself  the  exclusive 
discovery  of  the  cause  of  the  augmentation  of  weight 
vhich  bodies  undergo  during  combustion  and  cal- 
cination. He  informs  us  that  a  set  of  experiments, 
which  he  made  in  1772,  upon  the  different  kinds  of 
air  which  are  disengaged  in  effervescence,  and  a 
great  number  of  other  chemical  operations  disco- 
vered to  him  demonstratively  the  cause  of  the  aug- 
mentation of  weight  which  metals  experience  when 
exposed  to  heat.  "  I  was  young,"  says  he,  "I 
had  newly  entered  the  lists  of  science,  I  was  de« 
sirous  of  fame,  and  I  thought  it  necessary  to  take 
some  steps  to  secure  to  myself  the  property  of  my 
discovery.  At  that  time  there  existed  an  habitual 
correspondence  between  the  men  of  science  of 
France  and  those  of  England.  There  was  a  kind 
of  rivality  between  the  two  nations,  which  gave  im- 
portance to  new  experiments,  and  which  sometimes 
was  the  cause  that  the  writers  of  the  one  or  the 

h2 


100  KisTO&T  or 

i^hfit  oi  the  natiom  disputed  iht  diacom}  witk 
the  real  author,  Conseqnenth-,  I  ^bcm^ti  it  praficr 
to  deposit  oa  the  Ist  of  November,  1772,  dtt  fol- 
Ifrwint^  note  in  the  hands  of  the  aecxetur  of  die 
academy.  Thift  note  was  opened  oa  the  1st  of 
Mar  PAlammc:,  and  mention  of  these  circimistanGes 
marked  at  the  top  of  the  note.  It  was  in  the 
loJ lowing  terms : 

**  About  eig;fat  dajs  ago  I  diacorered  that  soj^or 
in  bnming,  far  from  losing,  augments  in  we%fat; 
^at  is  to  sajy  that  from  one  pound  of  sulphur  much 
more  than  one  pound  of  ritiiolic  acid  is  obtained, 
without  reckoning  the  humidity  of  the  air.  Phos- 
phorus presents  the  same  phenomenon.  This  aug- 
mentation of  weight  arises  from  a  great  quantity  ci 
air,  which  becomes  fixed  during  the  combustion,  and 
which  combines  with  the  vapours. 

**  This  discovery y  which  I  confirmed  by  experi- 
ments which  I  regard  as  decisiYe,  led  me  to  think 
that  what  is  observed  in  the  combustion  of  sulphur 
and  phosphorus,  might  likewise  take  place  with 
respect  to  all  the  bodies  which  augment  in  weig^ 
by  combustion  and  calcination;  and  I  was  per- 
suaded that  the  augmentation  of  weight  in  die 
calces  of  metals  proceeded  from  the  same  cause. 
The  experiment  fully  confirmed  my  conjectures.  I 
operated  the  reduction  of  litharge  in  close  vessels 
with  Halcs's  apparatus,  and  I  observed,  that  at  the 
moment  of  the  passage  of  the  calx  into  the  metallic 
state,  there  was  a  disengagement  of  air  in  consi- 
derable quantity,  and  that  this  air  formed  a  volume 
at  least  one  thousand  times  greater  than  that  of  the 
litharge  employed.  As  this  discovery  appears  to 
mc  one  of  the  most  interesting  which  has  been  made 
since  Stahl,  I  thought  it  expedient  to  secure  to  my- 
self the  property,  by  depositing  the  present  note  in 
the   hands  of  the  secretary  of  the  academy,  to  re- 


PROGRESS  or  CHEMISTRY   IN    FRAVCE.       101 

main  secret  till  the  period  when  I  shall  publish  my 
experiments.  ''  Lavoisier. 

"  Paris,  November  11, 1772." 

This  note  leaves  no  doubt  that  Lavoisier  had  con- 
ceived his  theory,  and  confirmed  it  by  experiment, 
at  least  as  early  as  November,  1772.  But  at  that 
time  the  nature  of  air  and  the  existence  of  oxygen 
were  unknown.  The  theory,  therefore,  as  he  un- 
derstood it  at  that  time,  was  precisely  the  same  as 
that  of  John  Rey.  It.  was  not  till  the  end  of  1774 
that  his  views  became  more  precise,  and  that  he  was 
aware  that  oxygen  is  the  portion  of  the  air  which, 
unites  with  bodies  during  combustion,  and  calci- 
nation. 

Nothing  can  be  more  evident  from  the  whole  his- 
tory of  the  academy,  and  of  the  French  chemists 
during  this  eventful  period,  for  the  progress  of  the 
science,  that  none  of  them  participated  in  the  views 
of  Lavoisier,  or  had  the  least  intention  of  giving  up 
the  phlogistic  theory.  It  was  not  till  1785,  after 
hoB  experiments  had  been  almost  all  published,  and 
after  all  the  difficulties  had  been  removed  by  the 
two  great  discoveries  of  Mr.  Cavendish,  that  Ber- 
thoUet  declared  himself  a  convert  to  the  Lavoisierian 
opinions.  This  was  soon  followed  by  others,  and 
within  a  very  few  years  almost  all  the  chemists  and 
men  of  science  in  France  enlisted  themselves  on  the 
same  side.  Lavoisier's  objection,  then,  to  the  phrase 
La  Ckimie  Fran^aise,  is  not  without  reason,  the 
term  Lavoisierian  Chemistry  should  undoubtedly 
be  substituted  for  it.  This  term.  La  Chimie  Fran^ 
^ise  was  introduced  by  Fourcroy.  Was  Fourcroy 
anxious  to  clothe  himself  with  the  reputation  of 
Lavoisier,  and  had  this  any  connexion  with  the 
violent  death  of  that  illustrious  man? 

The  first  set  of  experiments  which  Lavoisier  pub- 
lislied  on  his  peculiar  views,  was  entitled,  '^  A  Me-> 


lOZ  msTORT  OF  CHBM1STB.T. 

moir  OD  the  Calcination  of  Tin  in  close  Veasela ;  and 
on  the  Cause  of  the  increase  of  Weight  which  the 
Metal  acquires  dttring  this  Process,"  It  appeared 
in  the  Memoirs  of  the  Academy,  for  1774.  In  this 
paper  he  gives  an  account  of  several  experinienla 
which  he  had  made  on  the  calcination  of  tin  in  glasB 
retorts,  hermetically  sealed.  He  put  a  qnantityof 
tin  (about  half  a  pound)  into  a  glass  retort,  some- 
times of  a  lai^er  and  sometimes  of  a  smaller  sim, 
and  then  drew  out  the  beak  >  into  a  capillary  tube. 
The  retort  was  now  placed  upon  the  sand-baUi,  and 
heated  till  the  tin  just  melted.  Theentremityof  the 
capillary  beak  of  the  retort  was  now  fused  so  as  to 
seal  it  hermetically.  The  object  of  this  heating  waJ 
to  prevent  the  retort  from  bursting  by  the  espansioa 
of  the  air  during  the  process.  The  retort,  with  its 
contents,  was  now  carefully  weighed,  and  the  weight  * 
noted.  It  was  put  again  on  the  sand-bath,  and 
kept  melted  till  the  process  of  calcination  refused  to 
advance  any  further.  He  observed,  that  if  the  re- 
tort was  small,  the  calcination  always  stopped  sooner 
than  it  did  if  the  retort  was  lai^.  Or,  in  otiier 
words,  the  quantity  of  tin  calcined  was  always  pro- 
portional to  the  size  of  the  retort. 

After  the  process  was  finished,  the  retort  (still 
bermeticaliy  sealed)  was  again  weighed,  and  wai 
always  found  to  have  the  same  weight  exactly  as  at 
first.  The  beak  of  the  retort  was  now  broken  off; 
and  a  quantity  of  air  entered  with  a  hissing  noise. 
The  increase  of  weight  was  now  noted  :  it  was  ob- 
viously owing  to  the  air  that  had  rushed  in.  Tlie 
weight  of  air  that  had  been  at  first  driven  out  by  the 
fusion  of  the  tin  had  been  noted,  and  it  was  now 
found  that  a  considerably  greater  quantity  had  en- 
tered than  had  been  driven  out  at  first.  In  some  ex- 
periments, as  much  as  10'06  grains,  in  othere  9-87 
grains,  and  in  some  less  than  this,  when  the  size  of 


PROGRESS  OF  CHEMISTRY    IN   FRASCE.       103 

the  retort  was  small.  The  tin  in  the  retort  was 
mostly  unaltered,  but  a  portion  of  it  had  been  con- 
verted into  a  black  powder,  weighing  in  some  cases 
above  two  ounces.  Now  it  was  tbund  in  all  cases, 
that  the  weight  of  the  tin  had  increased,  and  the  in- 
crease of  weight  was  always  exactly  equal  to  the 
diminution  of  weight  which  the  air  in  the  retort  bad 
undergoDe,  measured  by  the  quantity  of  new  ait 
which  rushed  in  when  the  beak  of  the  retort  was 
broken,  minus  the  air  that  had  been  driven  out  wlien 
the  tin  was  originally  melted  before  the  retort  was 
hermetically  sealed. 

Thus  Lavoisier  proved  by  these  first  experiments, 
that  when  tin  is  calcined  in  close  vessels  a  portion  of 
the  air  of  the  vessel  disappears,  and  that  the  tia 
iacreasea  in  weight  just  as  much  as  is  equivalent  to 
the  loss  of  weight  which  the  air  has  sustained.  He 
therefore  inferred,  that  this  portion  of  air  had  united 
with  the  tin,  and  that  caix  of  tin  is  a  compound  of 
tin  and  air.  In  this  6rst  paper  there  is  notlung  said 
about  oxygen,  nor  any  allusion  to  lead  to  the  suspi- 
cion that  air  is  a  compound  of  different  elastic 
fluids.  These,  therefore,  were  probably  the  experi- 
jDents  to  which  Lavoisier  alludes  in  the  note  which 
he  lodged  with  the  secretary  of  the  academy  in 
November,  1772. 

He  mentions  towards  the  end  of  the  Memoir 
.  that  he  had  made  similar  experiments  with  lead ; 
but  he  does  not  communicate  any  of  the  numerical 
results:  probably  because  the  results  were  not  so 
striking  as  those  with  tin.  The  heat  necessary  to 
melt  lead  is  so  high  that  satisfactory  experiments  on 
its  calcination  could  not  easily  be  made  in  a  glass 
retort. 

Lavoisier's  next  Memoir  appeared  in  the  Memoirs 
^f£  the  Academy,  for  1775,  which  were  published  in 
^778.   It  is  entitled,  "  On  the  Nature  of  the  Prin- 


I 


BISTOa?   OF  CBKHrSTRT. 

ciple  which  combines  with  the  Metals  during  their 
Calcination,  and  whit^h  augments  their  Weight."  iHe  ■ 
obaervea  that  when  the  metallic  calces  are  reduced 
to  the  metallic  state  it  is  found  necessary  to  heat 
them  along  with  charcoal.  In  such  cases  a  quantity 
of  carboD-ic  acid  gas  is  driven  off,  which  he  assures 
us  ia  the  charcoal  united  to  the  elastic  fluid  contained 
in  the  calx.  He  tried  to  reduce  the  calx  gf  iron  by 
means  of  burning-glasses,  while  placed  under  la^ 
glass  receivers  standing  over  mercury ;  but  aa  the 
gas  thus  evolved  was  mixed  with  a  great  deal  of 
common  air  which  was  necessarily  left  in  the  re- 
ceiver, he  was  unable  to  determine  its  nature.  This 
induced  him  to  have  recourse  to  red  oxide  of  mer- 
cury. He  showed  in  the  first  place  that  this  sub- 
stance Imercurius  prtecipVatus  per  se)  was  a  true 
calx,  by  mixing  it  with  charcoal  powder  in  a  retort  J 
and  heating  it.  The  mercury  was  reduced  and 
abundance  of  carbonic  acid  gas  was  collected  in  an 
inverted  glass  jar  standing  in  a  w^ter-cistem  into 
which  the  beak  of  the  retort  was  plunged.  On  heat- 
ing the  red  oxide  of  mercury  by  itself  it  was  re- 
duced to  the  metallic  state,  though  not  so  easily, 
and  at  the  same  time  a  gaa  was  evolved  which  pos- 
sessed the  following  properties: 

1 .  It  did  not  combine  with  water  by  agitation. 

2.  It  did  not  precipitate  lime-water, 

3.  It  did  not  unite  with  fixed  or  volatile  alkalies. 

4.  It  did  not  at  all  diminish  their  caustic  quality. 

5.  It  would  serve  again  for  the  calcination  at 

6.  It  was  diminished  like  common  air  by  addiUoa 
G-third  of  nitrous  gas. 

7.  it  had  none  of  the  properties  of  carbonic  acid 
gas.  Far  from  being  fatal,  like  that  gas,  to  animals,  it 
seemed  on  the  contrary  more  proper  for  the  purposes 
of  respiration.     Candles  and  burning  bodies  wera 


PBOGBESS   OF   CHEMISXnT  JS    FRANCE.       105 

not  only  not  extinguished  by  it,  but  burned  with  an 
enlarged  flame  in  a  very  remarkable  manner.  The 
lig'ht  they  gave  was  much  greater  and  clearer  than  in 
common  air.  * 

He  expresses  his  opinion  that  the  same  kind  of 
air  would  be  obtained  by  heating  nitre  without  ad- 
dition, and  this  opinion  is  founded  on  the  fact  that 
when  nitre  is  detonated  with  charcoal  it  gives  out 
abundance  of  carbonic  acid  gas. 

Thus  Lavoisier  shows  in  this  paper  that  the  kind  of 
air  which  unites  with  metals  daring  their  calcination 
is  purer  and  fitter  for  combustion  than  common  air, 
la  short  it  is  the  gas  which  Dr.  Priestley  had  dis- 
covered in  1774,  and  which  is  now  known  by  the 
name  of  oxygen  gas. 

This  Memoir  deserves  a  few  animadversions.  Dr. 
PrieBtleydiscovered  oxygen  gas  in  August,  1774;  and 
be  informs  us  in  his  life,  that  in  the  autumn  of  that 
year  he  went  to  Paris  and  exhibited  to  Lavoisier,  in 
his  own  laboratoify  the  mode  of  obtaining  oxygen  gas 
by  heating  red  oxide  of  mercury  in  a  gun-barrel, 
and  the  properties  by  which  this  gas  is  distin- 
guished— indeed  the  very  properties  which  Lavoisier 
himself  enumerates  in  his  paper.  There  can,  there- 
fore, be  no  doubt  that  Lavoisier  was  acquainted  with 
oxygen  gas  in  1 774,  and  that  he  owed  his  know- 
ledge of  it  to  Dr.  Priestley. 

There  is  some  uncertainty  about  the  date  of  La- 
voisier's paper.  In  the  History  of  the  Academy,  for 
1775,  it  is  merely  said  about  it,  "  Read  at  the  re- 
sumption (rentrh)  of  the  Academy,  on  the  26th  of 
April,  by  M,  Lavoisier,"  without  naming  the  year. 
But  it  could  not  have  been  before  1775,  because 
that  is  the  year  upon  tiie  volume  of  the  Memoirs ; 
and  besides,  we  know  from  the  Journal  de  Physique 
(v.  429),  that  1775  was  the  year  on  which  the  paper 
of  Lavoisier  was  read. 


"flt««fty  T)P   CHEMIBTttT.  "^^^ 

Yet  in  the  whole  of  tliis  paper  the  name  of  Dr. 
Priestley  never  occurs,  nor  is  the  least  hint  girea 
that  he  bad  already  obtained  oxygen  gas  by  heating 
red  oxide  of  mercury.  So  far  from  it,  that  it  is  ob- 
viously the  intention  of  the  author  of  the  paper  to 
induce  his  renders  to  infer  that  he  himBelf  was  the 
discoverer  of  osygen  gas.  For  after  describing:  the 
process  by  which  oxygen  gas  was  obtamed  by  him, 
he  says  nothing  further  remained  but  to  determina 
its  nature,  and  "  I  discovered  with  muck  surprise 
that  it  was  not  capable  of  combination  with  water 
by  agitation,"  &c.  Now  why  the  expression  of  sur- 
prise in  describing  phenomena  which  had  bee* 
already  shown  ?  AnQwhy  the  omission  of  all  men- 
tion of  Dr.  Priestley's  name?  I  confess  that  thil 
seems  to  me  capable  of  no  other  explanation  than  a 
wish  to  claim  for  himself  the  discovery  of  oxygea> 
gas,  though  he  knew  well  that  that  discovery  had 
been  previously  made  by  another. 

The  next  set  of  esperimenta  made  by  Lavoisier  to 
confirm  or  extend  his  theory,  was  "  On  the  Combus- 
tion of  Phosphorus,  and  the  Nature  of  the  Acid  which 
results  from  that  Combustion."  It  appeared  in  the 
Memoirsof  the  Academy,  for  1777.  The  result  of 
these  experiments  was  very  striking-.  When  phos- 
phorus is  burnt  in  a  given  bulk  of  air  in  suffictent 
quantity,  about  four-fifths  of  the  volume  of  the  w 
disappears  and  unites  itself  with  the  pbospborus. 
The  residual  portion  of  the  air  is  incapable  of  sup- 
porting combustion  or  maintaining  animal  life.  Ia- 
"  T  gave  it  the  name  of  mouffette  almospheriquMy 
and  he  describes  several  of  its  properties.  The 
phosphorus  by  combining  with  the  portion  of  air 
which  has  disappeared,  is  converted  into  phosphoric 
acid,  which  is  deposited  on  the  inside  of  tlie  recdvet 
in  which  the  combustion  is  performed,  in  the  state 
of  fine  white  flakes.     One  grain  by  this  process  \b 


conirerled  into  two  and  a  half  grains  of  phosphoric 
acid.  These  observations  led  to  the  conclusion  that 
atmospheric  air  is  a  minture  or  compound  of  two 
distinct  gases,  the  one  {oxygen)  absorbed  by  burning 
phosphorus,  the  other  (azote)  not  acted  on  by  that 
principle,  and  not  capable  of  uniting  with  or  cal- 
cining metals.  These  conclusions  had  already  been 
drawn  by  Scheele  from  similar  experiments,  but  La- 
voisier was  ignorant  of  them. 

In  the  second  part  of  this  paper,  Lavoisier  de- 
scribes the  properties  of  phosphoric  acid,  and  gives 
an  account  of  the  salts  which  it  forms  with  the  dif- 
ferent bases.  The  account  of  these  salts  is  exceed- 
ingly imperfect,  and  it  is  remarkable  that  Lavoisier 
makes  no  distinction  between  phosphate  of  potash 
and  phosphate  of  soda ;  though  the  diiferent  pro- 
perties of  these  two  salts  are  not  a  little  striking. 
But  these  were  not  the  investigations  in  which  La- 
voisier excelled. 

The  next  paper  in  which  the  doctrines  of  the  anti- 
phlogistic theory  were  still  further  developed,  was 
inserted  in  the  Memoirs  of  the  Academy,  for  1777. 
It  ia  entitled,  "  On  the  Combustion  of  Candles  in 
atmospherical  Air,  and  in  Air  eminently  Reapirable." 
This  paper  is  remarkable,  because  in  it  he  first 
notices  Dr.  Priestley's  discovery  of  oxygen  gas ; 
but  without  any  reference  to  the  preceding  paper, 
or  any  apology  for  not  having  alluded  in  it  to  the 
ioformation  which  hehad  received  from  Dr.  Priestley. 

He  begins  by  saying  that  it  is  necessary  to  dis- 
tingnish  four  different  kinds  of  air.  1.  Atmo- 
Bpherical  air  in  which  we  live,  and  which  we  breath. 
2.  Pure  air  (oxygen),  alone  fit  for  breathing, 
constituting  about  the  fourth  of  the  volume  of 
atmospherical  air,  and  called  by  Dr.  Priestley  dt- 
pkloffisficated  air.  3.  Azotic  gas,  which  consti- 
tutes about  three-fourths  of  the  volume  of  atmo- 


IliSTORT  OV  CHZHISTRT.  ' 

spherical  air,  and  whose  properties  are  still  unknowti. 
4.  Fixed  air,  which  he  proposed  to  call  (as  Bucquet 
had  done)  acide  crayeux,  add  of  chalk. 

In  this  paper  Lavoisier  gives  an  account  of  a 
great  many  trials  that  he  made  by  burning  candles 
in  given  volumes  of  atmospherical  air  and  oxygea 
gas  enclosed  in  glass  receivers,  standing  over  mer- 
cury. The  general  conclusion  which  he  deduces 
from  these  experiments  are — that  the  azotic  gas  of 
the  air  contributes  nothing  to  the  burning  of  the 
candle;  but  the  whole  depends  upon  the  oxygea 
gas  of  the  air,  constituting  in  his  opinion  one-fourth 
of  its  volume ;  that  during  the  combustion  of  a 
candle  in  a  given  volume  of  air  only  two-fifths  of  the 
oxygen  are  converted  into  carbonic  acid  gas,  while 
the  remaining  three-hfths  remain  unaltered ;  but 
when  the  combustion  goes  on  in  oxygen  gas  a  mucK 
greater  proportion  (almost  the  whole)  of  this  gas  is 
converted  into  carbonic  iicid  gas.  Finally,  that 
phosphorus,  when  burnt  in  air  acts  much  more  pow- 
erfully on  the  oxygen  of  the  air  than  a  lighted  candle, 
absorbing  four-fifths  of  the  oxygen  and  converting  it 
into  phosphoric  acid. 

It  is  evident  that  at  the  time  this  paper  was 
written,  Lavoisier's  theory  was  nearly  complete. 
He  considered  air  as  a  mixture  of  three  volumes  of 
azotic  gas,  and  one  volume  of  oxygen  gas,  Tlifl 
last  alone  was  concerned  in  combustion  and  calci- 
nation. During  these  processes  a  portion  of  the 
oxygen  united  with  the  burning  body,  and  the  com- 
pound formed  constituted  the  acid  or  the  calx. 
Thus  he  was  able  to  account  for  combustion  and 
calcination  without  having  recourse  to  phlogiston. 
It  is  true  that  several  difKciilties  still  lay  in  his  way, 
which  he  was  not  yet  able  to  obviate,  and  which  pre- 
vented any  other  person  from  adopting  his  opinions. 
One  of  the  greatest  of  these  was  the  fact  that  hy- 


FBOGRESS   OF   CHEMISTRT   IK    FRANCE. 

drogcn  gas  was  evolved  during  the  solution  of 
several  metals  in  dilute  sulphuric  or  muriatic 
acid  ;  that  by  this  solution  these  metals  were  con- 
verted into  calces,  and  that  calces,  when  heated  in 
hydrogen  gas,  were  reduced  to  the  metallic  state 
while  the  hydrogen  disappeared.  The  simplest  ex- 
planation of  these  phenomena  was  the  one  adopted 
by  chemists  at  the  time.  Hydrogen  was  considered 
as  phlogiston.  By  dissolving  raetals  in  acids,  the 
phlogiston  was  driven  off  and  the  calx  remained : 
by  heating  the  calx  in  hydrogen,  the  phlogiston  was 
again  absorbed  and  the  calx  reduced  to  the  metallic 

This  explanation  was  so  simple  aod  appeared  so 
satisfactory,  that  it  was  universally  adopted  by  cbe- 
mists  with  the  exception  of  Lavoisier  himself.  There 
was  a  circumstance,  however,  which  satisfied  him  that 
this  explanation,  however  plausible,  was  not  correct. 
The  calx  was  heavier  than  the  metal  from  which  it 
had  been  produced.  And  hydrogen,  though  a  light 
body,  was  still  possessed  of  weight.  It  was  obviously 
impossible,  then,  that  the  metal  could  be  a  combi- 
nation of  the  calx  and  hydrogen.  Besides,  he  had 
ascertained  by  direct  experiment,  that  the  calces  of 
mercury,  tin,  and  lead  are  compounds  of  the  re- 
spective metals  and  oxygen.  And  it  was  known  that 
when  the  other  calces  were  heated  with  charcoal, 
(hey  were  reduced  to  the  metallic  state,  and  at  the 
same  time  carbonic  acid  gas  is  evolved.  The  very 
same  evolution  takes  place  when  calces  of  mercury, 
tin,  and  lead,  are  heated  with  charcoal  powder. 
Hence  the  inference  was  obvious  that  carbonic  acid 
is  a  compound  of  charcoal  and  oxygen,  and  there- 
fore that  all  calces  are  compounds  of  their- respective 
metals  and  oxygen. 

Thus,  although  Lavoisier  was  unable  to  accoont 
for  the  phenomena  comiected  with  the  evolution  and 


I 


BISTOBT  OF  CHEMI8TRT. 

of  iron.  There  are  two  species  of  pyritea;  the  one 
composed  of  two  atoms  of  sulphur  and  one  atom  of 
iron,  the  other  of  one  atom  of  sulphur  and  one  atom 
of  iron.  The  first  of  these  is  called  bisulphuret  of 
iron;  the  second  protosulphuret,  or  simply  sulphtuet 
of  iron.  The  variety  of  pyrites  which  undergoes 
Bpontaneoua  decomposition  in  the  air,  is  knowB  to 
be  a  compound,  or  rather  mixture  of  the  two  species 
of  pyrites. 

Lavoisier  put  a  quantity  of  the  decomposing 
pyrites  under  a  glass  jar,  and  found  that  the  process 
went  on  just  as  well  as  in  the  open  air.  He  found 
that  the  air  was  deprived  of  the  whole  of  its  oxygen 
by  the  process,  and  that  nothing  was  left  but  azotic 
KEks,  Hence  the  nature  of  the  change  became  evi- 
dent. The  sulphur,  by  uniting  with  oxygen,  was 
converted  into  sulphuric  acid,  while  the  iron  became 
oxide  of  iron,  ana  both  uniting,  formed  sulphate  of 
iron.  There  are  still  some  difGculties  connected 
with  this  change  that  require  to  be  elucidated. 

We  have  still  another  paper  by  Lavoisier,  bearing 
on  the  antiphlogistic  theory,  published  in  the  same 
volume  of  the  Memoirs  of  the  Academy,  for  1778, 
entitled,  "  On  Combustion  in  general."  He  esta- 
blishes that  the  only  air  capable  of  supporting  com- 
bustion is  oxygen  gas :  that  during  the  burning  of 
bodies  in  common  air,  a  portion  of  the  oxygen  of 
the  atmosphere  disappears,  and  unites  with  the  burn- 
ing body,  and  tliat  the  new  compound  formed  ia 
either  an  acid  or  a  metallic  calx.  When  sulphur  is 
burnt,  sulphuric  acid  is  formed ;  when  phosphorus, 
phosphoric  acid  ;  and  when  charcoal,  carbonic  acid. 
The  calcination  of  metals  is  a  process  analogous  to 
combustion,  difiering  chiefly  by  the  slowness  of  the 
process :  indeed  when  it  takes  place  rapidly,  actuali 
combustion  is  produced.  After  establishing  these 
general  principles,  which  are  deduced  from  his  pre- 


PKOGEESS  or   CHEMISTRY  IH   FRANCE.       113 

ceding  papers,  he  proceeds  to  examine  the  Stahlian 
theory  of  phlogiston,  and  shows  that  no  evidence 
of  the  existence  of  any  such  principle  can  be  ad- 
dooed,  and  that  the  phenomena  can  all  be  explained 
without  haying  recourse  to  it.  Powerful  as  these 
arguments  were,  they  produced  no  immediate  effects. 
JNobody  chose  to  give  up  the  phlogistic  theory  to 
which  he  had  been  so  long  accustomed. 

The  next  two  papers  of  Lavoisier  require  merely 
to  be  mentioned,  as  they  do  not  bear  immediately 
upon  the  antiphlogistic  theory.  They  appeared  in 
the  Memoirs  of  the  Academy,  for  1780.  These 
aoemoirs  were, 

1.  Second  Memoir  on  the  different  Combinations 
of  Phosphoric  Acid. 

2.  On  a  particular  Process,  by  means  of  which 
Phosphorus  may  be  converted  into  phosphoric  Acid, 
without  Ck>mbustion. 

The  process  here  described  consisted  in  throwing 
phosphorus,  by  a  few  grains  at  a  time,  into  warm 
nitric  acid  of  the  specific  gravity  1*29895.  It  falls 
to  the  bottom  like  melted  wax,  and  dissolves  pretty 
rapidly  with  effervescence :  then  another  portion  is 
thrown  in,  and  the  process  is  continued  till  as  much 
phosphorus  has  been  employed  as  is  wanted ;  then 
the  phosphoric  acid  may  be  obtained  pure  by  dis- 
tilling off  the  remaining  nitric  acid  with  which  it  is 
ftill  mixed. 

Hitherto  Lavoisier  had  been  unable  to  explain 
the  anomalies  respecting  hydrogen  gas,  or  to  answer 
the  objections  urged  against  his  theory  in  conse- 
quence of  these  anomedies.  He  had  made  severed 
att^oapts  to  discover  what  peculiar  substance  was 
formed  during  the  combustion  of  hydrogen,  but 
always  without  success :  at  last,  in  1783,  he  resolved 
to  make  the  experiment  upon  so  large  a  scale,  that 
ivbatever  the  product  might  be,  it  should  not  escape 

VOL.   II.  I 


^trt  HISTORY   OF   CIIEMI3T1 

him;  but  Sir  Chu'les  Blogden,  who  had  just  gona 
to  Paris,  informed  him  that  the  experiment  for  whicfi 
he  was  preparing  had  already  been  made  by  Mr. 
Cavendish,  who  had  ascertained  that  the  product  of 
the  combustion  of  hydrogen  was  water.  Lavoisier 
saw  Ett  a  glance  the  vast  importance  of  tins  discovery 
for  the  establishment  of  the  antiphlogistic  theory, 
and  with  what  ease  it  would  enable  him  to  answer 
all  the  plausible  objections  which  had  been  brought 
forward  against  his  opinions  in  consequence  of  thfi 
evolution  of  hydrogen,  when  metals  were  calcined 
by  solution  in  acids,  and  the  absorption  of  it  when 
metals  were  reduced  in  an  atmosphere  of  this  gas. 
He  therefore  resolved  to  repeat  the  experiment  of 
Cavendish  with  every  possible  caic,  and  upon,  ft 
scale  sufHciently  large  to  prevent  ambiguity.  The 
experiment  was  made  on  the  '24th  of  June,  1783,  by 
Lavoisier  and  Laplace,  in  the  presence  of  M,  Le  Eoi, 
M.  Vandermonde,  and  Sir  Charles  Blagden,  who 
was  at  that  time  secretary  of  the  Royal  Society. 
The  quantity  of  water  formed  was  considerable,  and 
they  found  that  water  was  a  compound  of 
1  volume  o.vygen 
1-91  volume  hydrogen. 
Not  satisfied  with  this,  he  soon  after  made  another 
experiment  along  with  M.  Meusnier  to  decompose 
water.  For  this  purpose  a  porcelain  tube,  fiLed 
with  iron  wire,  was  heated  red-hot  by  being  passed 
through  a  furnace,  and  then  the  steam  of  water  was 
made  to  traverse  the  red-hot  wire.  To  the  furtha 
extremity  of  the  porcelain  tube  a  glass  tube  was 
luted,  which  terminated  in  a  water-trough  under  aa 
inverted  glass  receiver  placed  to  collect  the  gas. 
The  steam  was  decomposed  by  the  red-hot  iron  wire^ 
its  oxygen  united  to  the  wire,  while  the  hydrogen 
paBscd  on  and  was  collected  in  the  water-cistern. 
Both  of  these  experiments,  though  not  made  till 


PROGUEBS   OF   ClIESIiaTHT   TIT  FUAXCE.       115 

1783,  and  thougli  the  latter  of  tliem  was  not  read 
to  the  academy  till  1784,  were  published  in  the 
volume  of  the  Msmoirs  for  1781. 

It  is  easy  to  see  how  this  important  discovery 
enabled  Lavoisier  to  obviate  all  the  objections  to 
his  theory  from  hydrogen.  He  showed  that  Jt  was 
evolved  when  zinc  or  iron  was  diaaoived  in  dilute 
sulphuric  acid,  because  the  water  underwent  de- 
composition, its  oxygen  uniting  to  the  zinc  or  iron, 
and  converting  it  into  an  oxide,  while  its  hydrogen 
made  its  escape  in  the  state  of  gas.  Oxide  of  iron 
was  reduced  when  heated  in  contact  with  hydrogen 
gas,  because  the  hydrogen  united  to  tlie  oxygen  of 
the  acid  and  formed  water,  and  of  course  the  iron 
was  reduced  to  the  state  of  a  metal.  !  consider  it 
unneceasary  to  enter  into  a  minute  detail  of  these 
experiments,  because,  in  fact,  they  added  very  little 
to  what  had  been  already  established  by  Cavendish, 
But  it  was  this  discovery  that  contributed  more  than 
any  thing  else  to  establish  the  antiphlogistic  theory. 
Accordingly,  the  great  object  of  Dr.  Priestley,  and 
other  advocates  of  the  phlogistic  theory,  was  to  dis- 
prove the  fact  that  water  is  a  compound  of  oxygea 
and  hydrogen.  Scheele  admitted  the  fact  that 
water  is  a  compound  of  oxygen  and  hydrogen ;  and 
doubtless,  had  he  lived,  would  have  become  a  con- 
vert to  the  antiphlogistic  theory,  as  Dr.  Black  ac- 
tually did.  In  short,  it  was  the  discovery  of  the 
compound  nature  of  water  that  gave  the  Lavoisierian 
theory  the  superiority  over  that  of  Stahl.  Till  the 
time  of  this  discovery  every  body  opposed  the  doc- 
trine of  Lavoisier ;  hut  within  a  very  few  years  after 
it,  hardly  any  supporters  of  phlogiston  remained. 
Nothing  could  be  more  fortunate  for  Lavoisier  than 
this  discovery,  or  afford  him  greater  reason  for  self- 
congratulation. 

"VVe  see  the  effect  of  this  discovery  upon  his  next 
i2 


116  BisioKT  or  CHSMiarmT. 

pftfieT,  ^  Ob  the  Fonnatkn  of  Carbonic  Acid,"  whuji 
wfwttied  in  the  Memoirs  of  the  Academy,  for  1781. 
loieff^^  for  the  first  time,  he  introdaces  new  termsy 
»h«i«iK^,  br  that,  that  he  considered  his  opinions  as 
Mij  ettdblished.  To  the  dephloffisHcated  air  of 
PiimleT,  or  his  own  pure  airy  he  now  gives  the 
wune  of  orypem.  The  fixed  air  of  filack  he  deaig- 
Mii:e9  carhomic  acidy  because  he  considered  it  as  a 
eonpound  of  carbom  (the  pore  part  of  charcoal)  and 
MT^rtu.  The  object  of  this  paper  is  to  determint 
the  piv>|Miition  of  the  constituents.  He  details  a 
{T^Nit  many  experiments,  and  deduces  from  them 
all^  that  cwbonic  acid  gas  ts  a  compound  of 
Carbon  .         .  0*75 

Oxygen  .         .         .         193 
Now  this  is  a  tolerably  near  aj^iroximation  to  the 
truth.     The  true  constituents,  as  determined  by 
modem  chemists^  being 

Carbon  .  .        075 

Oxygen.         .  200 

The  next  paper  of  M,  LaYoisier,  which  appeared 
in  the  Memoirs  of  the  Academy,  for  1782  (published 
in  17  So),  shows  how  well  he  appreciated  the  im» 
portanoe  of  the  discovery  of  the  composition  of 
water.  It  ts  entitled,  *^  General  Considerations  on 
the  Solution  of  the  Metals  in  Acids."  He  shows 
that  when  metals  are  dissolved  in  acids,  they  are 
converted  into  oxides,  and  that  the  acid  does  not 
combine  with  the  metal,  but  only  with  its  oxide. 
When  nitric  acid  is  the  solvent  the  oxidizement 
takes  place  at  the  expense  of  the  acid,  which  is  ie» 
solved  into  nitrous  gas  and  oxygen.  The  nitrous 
gas  makes  its  escape,  and  may  be  collected;  but 
the  oxygen  unites  with  the  metal  and  renders  it  aA 
oxide.  He  shows  this  with  respect  to  the  solution 
of  mercury  in  nitric  acid.  He  collected  the  nitrons 
gas  given  out  during  the  solution  of  the  m^al  in 


PROGRESS  or  CHEMISTRY  XH  FRANCE.       117 

)  acid :  tlien  evaporated  the  solution  to  dryness, 
d  urged  the  fire  till  the  mercury  was  converted 
to  red  oxide.  The  fire  being  still  further  urged, 
»  red  oxide  was  reduced,  and  the  oxygen  gas 
retk  off  was  collected  and  measured.  He  showed 
It  the  nitrous  gas  and  the  oxygen  gas  thus  ob- 
ned,  added  together,  formed  just  the  quantity  of 
xic  acid  which  had  disappeared  during  the  pro^ 
■•  A  similar  experiment  was  made  by  dissolving 
n  in  nitric  acid,  and  then  urging  the  fire  till  the 
n  was  freed  from  every  foreign  body,  and  ob- 
ned  in  the  state  of  black  oxide. 
It  is  well  known  that  many  metals  held  in  solu- 
n  by  acids  may  be  precipitated  in  the  metallic 
iBy  by  inserting  into  the  solution  a  plate  of  some 
ler  metal.  A  portion  of  that  new  metal  dissolves, 
d  takes  the  place  of  the  metal  originally  in  solu-* 
n.  Suppose,  for  example,  that  we  have  a  neutral 
ntion  of  copper  in  sulphuric  acid,  if  we  put  into 
I  solution  a  plate  of  iron,  the  copper  is  thrown 
Mm  in  the  metallic  state,  while  a  certain  portion 
the  iron  enters  into  the  solution,  combining  with 
J  acid  instead  of  the  copper.  But  the  copper, 
ile  in  solution,  was  in  the  state  of  an  oxide,  and 
is  precipitated  in  the  metallic  state.  The  iron 
s  in  the  metallic  state ;  but  it  enters  into  the  so-* 
ion  in  the  state  of  an  oxide.  It  is  clear  from  this 
It  the  oxygen,  during  these  precipitations,  shifts 
{dace,  leaving  the  copper,  and  entering  into  com- 
lation  with  the  iron.  If,  therefore,  in  such  a  case 
determine  the  exact  quantity  of  copper  thrown 
prn,  and  the  exact  quantity  of  iron  dissolved  at 
i  same  time,  it  is  clear  that  we  shall  have  the  re- 
ive weight  of  each  combined  with  the  same  weight 
oxygen.  If,  for  example,  4  of  copper  be  thrown 
vn  by  the  solution  of  3*5  of  iron  ;  then  it  is  clear 
4;  3' 5  of  iron  requires  just  as  much  oxygen  as  4 


118  SlflCOAT  OF  CHKMTIWnnC* 

of  cofiper,  tD  tnm  bodi  into  the  oxide  dsfc  ezuta  m 
^  aoiudon,  which  is  the  black  oxide  of  eaidi. 

Btfgnum  had  made  a  set  of  expenments  to  de- 
tannine  die  proportional  quantities  of  phlogiston 
contained  in  the  di&nent  metalsy  bj  the  relative 
qnandty  of  each  neceaaarj  to  precipitate  a  gpiven 
weight  of  another  finom  ita  acid  aolntion.     It  was  die 
opinion  at  that  time,  that  metals  were  compounds  of 
their  respeetiye  calces  and  phlogiston.     ¥nien  a 
metal  diraolyed  in  an  acid,  it  was  known  to  be  ia. 
the  state  of  calx,  and  therefore  had  parted  widi  its 
phlogiston:  when  another  metal  was  put  into  this 
sohition  it  became  a  calx,  and  die  dissolyed  metal 
was  precipitated  in  the  metallic  state.     It  had  there* 
Ibre  anited  with  the  phlogiston  of  the  precipitatin|^ 
metal.     It  is  obvious,  that  by  detomining  the  quan- 
tities of  the  two  metals  precipitated  and  disscivedy 
the  relatiye  proportion  of  phlogiston  in  each  coold 
be  determined.      Lafoisier  saw  that  these  experi- 
ments of  Bergman  would  senre  equally  to  determine 
the   relatrve   quantity   of  oxygen  in   the  dififerent 
oxides.      Accordingly,  in  a  paper  inserted  in  the 
Memoirs  of  the  Academy,  for  1782,  he  enters  into  an 
elaborate  examination  of  Bergman's  experiments, 
with  a  view  to  determine  this  point.     But  it  is  un- 
necessary to  state  the  deductions  which  he  drew, 
because  Bergman's  experiments  were  not  sufficiently 
accurate  for  the  object  in  view.      Indeed,  as  the 
mutual  precipitation  of  the  metals  is  a  galvanic  phe- 
nomenon,  and  as  the  precipitated  metal  is  seldom 
quite  pure,  but  an  alloy  of  the  precipitating  and 
precipitated  metal ;  and  as  it  is  very  difficult  to  dry 
the  more  oxidizable    metals,    as    copper  and  tin, 
without  their  absorbing  oxygen  when  they  are  in  a 
state  of  very  minute  division ;  this  mode  of  experi- 
menting is  not  precise  enough  for  the  object  which 
Lavoisier  had  in  view.     Accordingly  the  table  of  the 


PROOBX8S  OF  CHEMISTRT  IK   F&AKCE.       119 

composition  of  the  metallic  oxides  which  Lavoisier 
lias  drawn  up  is  so  very  defective,  that  it  is  not  worth 
irhile  to  transcribe  it. 

The  same  remark  applies  to  the  table  of  the  affini- 
ties of  oxygen  which  Lavoisier  drew  up  and  inserted 
in  the  Memoirs  of  the  Academy,  for  the  same  year. 
His  data  were  too  imperfect,  and  his  knowledge  too 
limited,  to  put  it  in  his  power  to  draw  up  any  such 
table  with  any  approach  to  accuracy.  I  shall  have  oc- 
casion to  resume  the  subject  in  a  subsequent  chapter. 
In  the  same  volume  of  the  Memoirs  of  the  Acade- 
Hiy,  this  indefatigable  man  inserted  a  paper  in  order 
|o  determine  the  quantity  of  oxygen  which  combines 
with  iron.  His  method  of  proceeding  was,  to  bum 
S  given  weight  of  iron  in  oxygen  gas.  It  is  well 
known  that  iron  wire,  under  such  circumstances, 
Imms  with  considerable  splendour,  and  that  the 
oxide,  by  the  heat,  is  fused  into  a  black  brittle  mat- 
ter, having  somewhat  of  the  metallic  lustre.  He 
burnt  145*6  grains  of  iron  in  this  way,  and  found 
that,  after  combustion,  the  weight  became  192 
grains,  and  97  French  cubic  inches  of  oxygen  gas  had 
been  absorbed.  From  this  experiment  it  follows, 
that  the  oxide  of  iron  formed  by  burning  iron  in 
oxygen  gas  is  a  compound  of 

Iron         3*5 

Oxygen  I'll 
This  forms  a  tolerable  approximation  to  the  truth.  It 
is  now  known,  that  the  quantity  of  oxygen  in  the 
oxide  of  iron  formed  hy  the  combustion  of  iron  in 
oxygen  gas  is  not  quite  uniform  in  its  composition ; 
^metimes  it  is  a  compound  of 

Iron         3^ 

Oxygen  IJ 
While  at  other  times  it  consists  very  nearly  of 

Iron         3-5 

Oxygen  1 
and  probably  it  may  exist  in  all  the  intermediate 


I 


BUTORT   OF  CBEMISTET. 

proportions  between  these  two  extremes.  The  last 
of  these  compounds  constitutes  what  is  now  known 
by  the  name  of  protoxide,  or  black  oxide  of  iron. 
ITie  first  is  the  composition  of  the  ore  of  iron  so 
abundant,  which  is  distinguished  by  the  name  of 
magnelic  iron  otp.. 

Lavoisier  was  aware  that  iron  combineg  with  more 
oxygen  than  exists  in  the  protoxide;  indeed,  his 
analysis  of  peroxide  of  iron  forms  a  tolerable  ap- 
proximation to  the  truth  ;  but  there  is  no  reason  fof 
beliering  that  he  was  aware  that  iron  is  capable  of 
forming  only  two  oxides,  and  that  all  intermediate 
degrees  of  oxidation  are  impossible.  This  was  first 
demonstrated  by  Proust. 

1  think  it  unnecessary  to  enter  into  any  details  re- 
specting two  papers  of  Lavoisier,  that  made  their 
,  appearance  in  the  Memoirs  of  the  Academy,  for  1 783, 
as  they  add  very  little  to  what  he  had  already  done. 
The  first  of  these  describes  the  experiments  which  he 
made  to  determine  the  quantity  of  oxygen  which 
unites  with  sulphur  and  phosphorus  when  they  are 
burnt ;  it  contains  no  fact  which  he  had  not  stated 
in  his  former  papers,  unless  we  are  to  consider  hiB 
remark,  that  the  heat  given  out  during  the  burning 
of  these  bodies  has  no  sensible  weight,  as  new.  | 

Theother  paper  is"  OnPhlogislon;"itisvery  elabo- 
rate, but  contains  nothing  which  had  not  been  al- 
ready advanced  in  his  preceding  memoirs.  Chemists 
were  so  wedded  to  the  plilogistic  theory,  their  preju- 
dices were  so  strong,  and  their  understandings  to 
fortified  against  every  thing  that  was  likely  to  change 
their  opinions,  that  Lavoisier  found  it  necessary  ttt  ' 
lay  the  same  facts  before  them  again  and  again, 
and  to  place  them  in  every  point  of  view.  In  this 
paper  he  gives  a  statement  ol  his  own  theory  of  ctim- 
buation,  which  he  had  previously  done  in  several  , 
preceding  papers.  He  examines  the  phlogistic 
tbeory  of  Stahl  at  great  length,  and  refutes  it. 


rjLo&REsa  or  chemistry  in  France.      121 

In  the  Memoirs  of  the  Academy,  for  1784,  La- 
voisier published  a  very  elaborate  set  of  experiments 
(m  the  conibustioa  of  alcohol,  oil,  and  different  com- 
bostible  bodies,  which  gave  a.  beginning  to  the 
analysis  of  vegetable  substances,  and  served  as  a 
foandation  upon  which  this  most  difficult  part  of 
chemistry  might  be  reared.  He  showed  that  during 
the  combustion  of  alcohol  the  oxygen  of  the  air 
united  to  the  vapour  of  the  alcohol,  which  underwent 
decomposition,  and  was  converted  into  water  and 
carbonic  acid.  From  these  experiments  he  deduced 
as  a.  consequence,  that  the  constituents  of  alcohol  are 
carbon,  hydrogen,  and  oxygen,  and  nothing  else; 
and  he  endeavoured  from  his  experiments  to  deter- 
mine the  relative  proportions  of  these  different  con- 
stituents. From  these  esperimenls  be  concluded, 
that  the  alcohol  which  he  used  in  his  experiments  was 
a  compound  of 

Carbon      .     .     .     2629-5  part. 
Hydrogen       ,     .       725-5 
Water        .     .     .     5861 
It  would  serve  no  purpose  to  attempt  to  draw  any 
consequences  from  these  experiments;  as  Lavoisier 
does  not  mention  the  specific  gravity  of  the  alcohol, 
of  course  we  cannot  say  how  much  of  the  water 
found  was  merely  united  with  tbe  alcohol,  and  how 
much  entered  into  its  composition.     The  proportion 
between  the  carbon  and  hydrogen,  constitutes  an 
approximation    to   the    truth,   tiiough  not  a  very 
near  one. 

Olive  oil  he  showed  to  be  a  compound  of  hydrogen 
and  carbon,  and  bees'  wax  to  be  a  compound  of  the 
same  constituents,  though  in  a  different  proportion. 

This  subject  was  continued,  and  his  views  further 
extended,  in  a  paper  inserted  in  the  Memoirs  of  the 
Academy, for  1 786, entitled,  "Reflections  on  the  De- 
csmposition  of  Water  by  Vegetable  and  Animal  Sub- 


ifh!' 


122  HISTOttT  or  CHEHinKT. 

stances. "  He  begins  by  stating  that  when  charcoal 
is  exposed  to  a  strong  heat,  it  gives  out  a  little  car- 
,  bonic  acid  gas  and  a  little  inflammable  airl  and  after 
this  nothing  more  can  be  driven  off,  however  high 
the  temperature  be  to  which  it  is  exposed ;  but  if 
the  charcoal  be  left  for  some  time  in  contact  with 
the  atmosphere  it  will  again  give  out  a  little  car- 
bontc  acid  gas  and  inflammable  gas  when  heated, 
aod  this  process  may  be  repeated  till  the  whole  char- 
coal disappears.  This  is  owing  to  the  presence  of  a 
little  moisture  which  the  charcoal  imbibes  from  the 
air.  The  water  is  decomposed  when  the  charcoal  is 
heated  and  converted  into  carbonic  acid  and  inflam- 
mable gas.  When  vegetable  substances  are  heated 
in  a  retort,  the  water  which  they  contain  undergoes 
a  sunilar  decomposition,  the  carbon  wbich  forma 
one  of  their  constituents  combines'with  the  oxygen 
and  produces  carbonic  acid,  while  the  hydrogen,  the 
other  constituent  of  the  water,  Hies  off  in  the  stata 
of  gas  combined  with  a  certain  quantity  of  carbon. 
Hence  the  substances  obtained  when  vegetable  or 
animal  substances  are  distilled  did  not  exist  readr 
formed  in  the  body  operated  on ;  but  proceedea> 
from  the  double  decompositions  which  took  place  by 
the  mutual  action  of  the  constituents  of  the  water,j 
sugar,  mucus,  &c.,  which  the  vegetable  body  con- 
tains. The  oil,  the  acid,  &c.,  extracted  bydifitiilio; 
vegetable  bodies  did  not  exist  in  them,  but  are 
formed  during  the  mutual  action  of  the  constituents 
upon  each  other,  promoted  as  their  action  is  by  ths 
heat.  These  views  were  quite  new  and  perfectly 
just,  and  threw  a  new  light  on  the  nature  of  vege™ 
table  substances  and  on  the  products  obtained  by 
distilling  them.  It  showed  the  futility  of  all  tha 
pretended  analyses  of  vegetable  substances,  which 
ehemists  had  performed  by  simply  subjecting  thent 
to  distillation,  and  the  error  of  drawing  any  conclu- 


sioas  respecting  the  constituents  of  vegetable  sub- 
stances from  the  results  of  their  distillation,  except 
indeed  with  respect  to  their  elementary  constituent. 
Thus  when  by  distilling  a  vegetable  substance  we 
obtain  water,  oil,  acetic  acid,  carbonic  acid,  and  car- 
buretted  hydrogen,  we  must  not  conclude  that  these 
principles  existed  in  the  substance,  but  merely  that 
it  contained  carbon,  hydrogen,  and  oxygen,  in  such 
proportions  as  to  yield  all  these  principles  by  decom- 

As  nitric  acid  acts  upon  metals  in  a  very  different 
way  from  sulphuric  and  muriatic  acids,  and  as  it  is 
a  much  better  solvent  of  metals  in  general  than  any 
other,  it  was  an  object  of  great  importance  towards 
completing  the  antiphiogislic  theory  to  obtain  an  ac- 
curate knowledge  of  its  constituents.  Though  La- 
voisier did  not  succeed  in  this,  yet  he  made  at  least  a 
certain  progress,  which  enabled  him  to  explain  the 
phenomena,  at  that  time  known,  with  considerable 
clearness,  and  to  answer  all  the  objections  to  the  an- 
tiphlogistic theory  from  the  action  of  nitric  acid  on 
metals.  His  first  paper  on  the  subject  was  published, 
in  the  Memoirs  of  the  Academy,  for  1 776 ,  He  put 
a  quantity  of  nitric  acid  and  mercury  into  a  retort 
with  a  long  beak,  which  he  plunged  into  the  water- 
trough.  An  effervescence  took  place  and  gas  passed 
over  in  abundance,  and  was  collected  in  a  glass  jar; 
the  mercury  being  dissolved  the  retort  was  still  fur- 
ther heated,  till  every  thingliquid  passed  over  into  the 
receiver,  and  a  dry  yellow  salt  remained.  The  beak  of 
the  retort  was  now  again  plunged  into  the  water- 
trough,  and  the  salt  heated  till  all  the  nitric  acid 
which  it  contained  was  decomposed,  and  nothing  re- 
mained in  the  retort  but  red  oxide  of  mercury.  Dur- 
ing this  last  process  much  more  gas  was  collected. 
All  the  gas  obtained  during  the  solution  of  the  mer- 
cury and  the  decomposition  of  the  salt  was  nitrous 


) 


I 


124 

gas.  The  red  oxide  of  mercury  was  now  heated  to 
redness,  oxygen  g&s  was  emitted  in  abundajice,  and 
the  mercury  was  reduced  to  the  metallic  state  :  its 
weight  was  found  the  very  sacne  as  at  first.  It  is 
clear,  therefore,  that  the  nitrous  gaa  and  the  oxygen 
gas  were  derived,  not  from  tlie  mercury  but  from  the 
nitric  acid,  and  that  the  nitric  acid  had  been  decom- 
posed into  nitrous  gas  and  oxygen :  the  nitrous 
gas  had  made  its  escape  in  the  form  of  gas,  and  tha 
oxygen  had  remained  united  to  the  metal. 

From  these  experiments  it  follows  clearly,  that 
nitric  acid  is  a  compound  of  nitrous  gas  and  oxygen. 
The  nature  of  nitrous  gas  itself  Lavoisier  did  not 
succeed  in  ascertaining.  It  passed  with  him  for  a 
simple  substance ;  but  what  he  did  ascertain  enabled 
him  to  explain  the  action  of  nitric  acid  on  metals. 
When  nitric  acid  is  poured  upon  a  metal  which  it  is 
capable  of  dissolving,  copper  for  example,  or  mer- 
cury, the  oxygen  of  ^e  acid  unites  to  the  metal,  and 
converts  into  an  oxide,  while  the  nitrous  gas,  the 
other  constituent  of  the  acid,  makes  its  escape  in 
the  gaseous  form.  The  oxide  combines  with  and  it 
dissolved  by  another  portion  of  the  acid  which 
escapes  decomposition. 

It  was  discovered  by  Dr.  Priestley,  that  when  ni- 
trous gas  and  oxygen  gas  are  mixed  together  in  cer- 
tain proportions,  they  instantly  unite,  and  are  con- 
verted into  nitrous  acid.  If  this  mixture  be  made 
over  water,  the  volume  of  the  gases  is  instantly  di- 
minished, because  the  nitrous  acid  formed  loses  its 
elasticity,  and  is  absorbed  by  the  water.  When  ni- 
trous gas  is  mixed  with  air  containing  oxygen  gas, 
the  diminution  of  volume  after  mixture  is  greater 
the  more  oxygen  gas  is  present  in  the  air.  This  in- 
duced Dr.  Priestley  to  employ  nitrous  gas  as  a  test 
of  the  purity  of  common  air.  He  mixed  tc^ether 
equal  volumes  of  the  nitrous  gas  and  air  to  be  exa- 


PH0GRES9   OF  CHEMISTRT   IN   ?RASCE.        125 

mined,  and  he  judged  of  the  purity  of  the  air  fay 
the  degree  ot"  condensation ;  the  greater  the  dimi- 
nution of  bulk,  the  greater  did  he  consider  the  pro- 
portion of  oxygen  in  the  air  under  examination  to 
be.  This  method  of  proceeding  was  immediately 
adopted  by  chemists  and  physicians ;  but  there  was 
a  want  of  uniformity  in  the  mode  of  proceeding, 
and  a  considerable  diversity  in  the  results.  M.  La- 
voisier endeavoured  to  improve  the  process,  in  a. 
paper  inserted  in  the  Memoirs  of  the  Academy,  for 
1782;  but  his  method  did  not  answer  the  purpose 
intended :  it  was  Mr.  Cavendish  that  first  pointed 
out  an  accurate  mode  of  testing  air  by  means  of  ni- 
trous gas,  and  who  showed  that  the  proportions  of 
oxygen  and  azotic  gas  in  common  air  are  invariable. 

Lavoisier,  in  the  course  of  his  investigations,  had 
proved  that  carbonic  acid  is  a  compound  of  carbon 
and  oxygen;  sulphuric  acid,  of  sulphur  and  oxygen; 
phosphoric  acid,  of  phosphorus  and  oxygen ;  and 
nitric  acid,  of  nitrous  gas  and  oxygen.  Neither  the 
carbon,  the  sulphur,  the  phosphorus,  nor  the  nitrous 
gas,  possessed  any  acid  properties  when  uncombined; 
but  they  acquired  these  properties  when  they 
were  united  to  oxygen.  He  observed  further,  that 
all  the  acids  known  b  his  time  which  had  been 
decomposed  were  found  to  contain  oxygen,  and 
when  they  were  deprived  of  oxygen,  they  lost  their 
acid  properties.  These  facts  led  him  to  conclude,  that 
oxygen  is  an  essential  constituent  ia  all  acids,  and 
that  it  is  the  principle  which  bestows  acidity  or  the 
true  acidifying  principle.  This  was  the  reason  why 
he  distinguished  it  by  the  name  of  oxygen.*  These 
views  were  fully  developed  by  Lavoisier,  in  a  paper 
inserted  in  the  Memoirs  of  the  Academy,  for  1778, 


HiaTORT   OF  CHEMIBTET. 


I 


I 


entitled,  "  General  Considerations  on  the  Nature  of 
Acids,  and  on  the  Principles  of  which  they  are  eom- 
pOBcd,"  When  this  paper  was  published,  Lavoisier's 
views  were  exceedingly  plausible.  They  were  gra- 
dually adopted  by  chemists  in  general,  and  for  a. 
number  of  years  may  be  considered  to  have  con- 
stituted a  part  of  ther  generally-received  doctrines. 
But  the  discovery  of  the  nature  of  chlorine,  and  the 
subsequent  facts  brought  to  light  respecting  iodine, 
bromine,  and  cyanogen,  have  demonstrated  that  it 
is  inaccurate ;  that  many  powerful  acids  exist  which 
contain  no  oxygen,  and  that  there  is  no  one  sub- 
stance to  which  the  name  of  acidifying  principle  caa. 
with  justice  be  given.  To  this  subject  we  shall  again 
revert,  when  we  come  to  treat  of  the  more  moders 
diBcoveries. 

Long  as  the  account  is  which  we  have  given  rf 
the  labours  of  Lavoisier,  the  subject  is  not  yet  ex- 
hausted. Two  other  papers  of  his  remain  to  be 
noticed,  which  throw  considerable  light  on  some 
important  functions  of  the  living  body :  we  allude 
to  his  experiments  on  respiration  and  perspiration. 

It  was  known,  that  if  an  animal  was  confined  be- 
yond a  certain  limited  time  in  a  given  volume  of 
atmospherical  air,  it  died  of  suffocation,  in  conse- 
quence of  the  air  becoming  unfit  for  breathing;  and 
that  if  another  animal  was  put  into  this  air,  thai 
rendered  noxious  by  breathing,  its  life  was  d&- 
stroyed  almost  in  an  instant.  Dr.  Priestley  had 
thrown  some  light  upon  this  subject  by  showing; 
that  air,  in  which  an  animal  had  breathed  for  soroA 
time,  possessed  the  property  of  rendering  lime-watn 
turbid,  and  therefore  contained  'carbonic  acid  gaa. 
He  considered  the  process  of  breathing  as  exactly 
analogous  to  the  calcination  of  metals,  or  the  coio- 
bustion  of  burning  bodies.  Both,  in  his  opinion 
acted  by  giving  out  phlogiston;  which,  uniting  witb 


PI100RES3   or   CQEMISTRT   IN    1 

the  air  of  tlie  atmosphere,  converted  it  into  phlo- 
gisticated  air.  Priestley  found,  that  if  planta  were 
made  to  vegetate  for  acme  time  in  air  that  had  been 
rendered  unfit  for  supporting  animal  life  by  respira- 
tion, it  lost  the  property  of  extinguishing  a  candle, 
and  animals  could  breathe  it  again  without  injury. 
He  concluded  from  this  that  animals,  by  breathings, 
phlogisticated  air,  but  that  plants,  by  vegetating,  de- 
phlogisticated  air :  the  former  communicated  phlo- 
giston to  it,  the  latter  took  phlogiston  from  it. 

After  Lavoisier  had  satisfied  himself  that  air  is  a 
mixture  of  oxygen  and  azote,  and  that  oxygen  alone 
is  concerned  in  the  processes  of  calcination  and 
combustion,  being  absorbed  and  combined  with  the 
Bubstances  undergoing  calcination  and  combustion, 
it  was  impossible  for  him  to  avoid  drawing  similar 
conclusions  with  respect  to  the  breathing  of  animedE. 
Accordingly,  he  made  experiments  on  the  subject, 
and  the  result  was  published  in  the  Memoirs  of  the 
Academy,  for  1777.  From  these  experiments  he 
drew  the  following  conclusions ; 

1.  The  only  portion  of  atmospherical  air  which  is 
useful  in  breathing  is  the  oxygen.  The  azote  is 
drawn  into  the  lungs  along  with  the  oxygen,  but  it 
is  thrown  out  again  unaltered. 

2.  The  oxygen  gas,  on  the  contrary,  is  gradually, 
by  breathing,  converted  into  carbonic  acid;  and  air 
liecomes  unfit  for  respiration  when  a  certain  portion 
of  its  oxygen  is  converted  into  carbonic  acid  gas. 

3.  Respiration  is  therefore  exactly  analogous  to 
calcination.  When  air  is  rendered  unfit  for  sup- 
porting life  by  respiration,  if  the  carbonic  acid  gas 
formed  be  withdrawn  by  means  of  lime-water,  or 
caustic  alkali,  the  azote  remaining  is  precisely  the 
same,  in  its  nature,  as  what  remains  after  air  is  ex- 

yhausted  of  its  oxygen  by  being  employed  for  cal- 
fioing  metals. 


In  this  first  paper  Lavoisier  went  no  further  thaa 
establishing  these  general  principles ;  but  he  after- 
wards made  experiments  to  determine  the  exact 
amount  of  the  changes  which  were  produced  ii 
by  breathing,  and  endeavoured  to  establish  an 
curate  theory  of  respiration.  To  this  subject  we 
shall  have  occasion  to  revert  a^in,  when  we  give  an 
account  of  the  attempts  made  to  determine  the  phe- 
nomena of  respiration  by  more  modern  experimentera. 

Lavoisier's  experiments  on  perspiration  were  made 
during  the  frenzy  of  the  French  revolution,  when 
Robespierre  had  usurped  the  supreme  power,  and 
when  it  was  the  object  of  those  at  the  head  of  affairs 
to  destroy  all  the  marks  of  civiliiotion  and  science 
which  remained  in  the  country.  His  experiments 
were  scarcely  completed  when  he  was  thrown  into 
prison,  and  though  he  requested  a  prolongatioD  of 
his  life  for  a  short  time,  till  he  could  have  the  means 
of  drawing  up  a  statement  of  their  results,  the  re- 
quest was  barbarously  refused.  He  has  therefore 
left  no  account  of  them  whatever  behind  him.  Bat 
Soguin,  who  was  associated  with  him  in  making 
these  experiments,  was  fortunately  overlooked,  and 
escaped  the  dreadful  times  of  the  reign  of  terror: 
he  afterwards  drew  up  an  account  of  the  results, 
which  has  prevented  them  from  bcmg  wholly  lost  to 
chemists  and  physiologists. 

Seguin  was  usually  the  person  experimented  on. 
A  varnished  silk  bag,  perfectly  air-tight,  was  pro- 
cured, within  which  he  was  enclosed,  except  a  slit 
over  against  the  mouth,  which  was  left  open  foi 
breathing;  and  the  edges  ofthe  bag  were  accurately 
cemented  round  the  mouth,  by  means  of  a  mixture  of 
turpentine  and  pitch.  Thus  every  thing  emitted  by 
the  body  was  retained  in  the  bag,  except  what  made 
its  escape  from  the  lungs  by  respiration.  By  weigh- 
ing himself  in  a  delicate  balance  at  the  c 


PH0GRES3  or  CHEMISTRY   I!T   FRANCE. 


139 


mt  of  the  experiment,  and  again  after  he  had 
'  continued  for  some  time  in  the  bag,  the  quantity  of 
matter  carried  off  by  respiration  was  determined. 
By  weighing  himself  without  this  varnished  covering', 
and  repeating  the  operation  after  the  same  interval 
of  time  had  elapsed,  as  in  the  former  experiment,  he 
determined  the  loss  of  weight  occasioned  hy  perspira- 
tion and  respiration  together.  The  loss  of  weight 
indicated  by  the  first  experiment  being  subtracted 
from  that  given  by  the  second,  the  quantity  of  matter 
lost  hy  peTspiration  through  the  pores  of  the  skia 
was  determined.  The  following  facts  were  ascertained 
by  these  experiments; 

1.  The  maximum  of  matter  perspired  in  a  minute 
amounted  to  26'25  grains  troy ;  the  minimum  to 
nine  grains;  which  gives  17'63  grains,  at  a  medium, 
in  the  minute,  or  52'89  ounces  in  twenty-four  hours. 

2.  Tiie  amount  of  perspiration  is  increased  by 
drink,  but  not  by  solid  food. 

3.  Perspiration  is  at  its  minimum  immediately 
after  a  repast ;  it  reaches  its  maximum  during'  di- 
gestion. 

Such  is  an  epitome  of  the  chemical  labours  of  M. 
lavoisier.  When  we  consider  that  this  prodig-ioua 
number  of  experiments  and  memoirs  were  all  per- 
formed and  drawn  up  within  the  short*  period  of 
twenty  years,  we  shall  be  able  to  form  some  idea  of  the 
almost  incredible  activity  of  this  estraordinary  man : 
the  steadiness  with  which  he  kept  his  own  peculiar 
opinions  in  view,  and  the  good  temper  which  he 
knew  how  to  maintain  in  all  his  publications,  though 
his  opinions  were  not  only  not  supported,  but  ac- 
tually opposed  by  the  whole  body  of  chemists  in 
existence,  does  him  infinite  credit,  and  was  un- 
doubtedly the  wisest  line  of  conduct  which  he  could 
possibly  have  adopted.  The  difficulties  connected 
with  the  evolution  and  absorption  of  hydrogen,  con- 


Elituted  the  ttron^old  of  the  phk^istiaiis.  Bui 
Mr.  CaveadUJiRdlscoveiT.  thatwaierisacompound 
of  oxygen  and  hydrogen,  wa£  a  dealh-biow  to  tha 
tloctrine  of  Slahl-  Soon  afler  this  discovery  wax 
I'uUv  established,  or  during  the  year  17S5,  M.  Ber- 
thoflet,  a.  member  of  the  academy,  and  tast  ming- 
to  tlie  eminence  which  he  afterwards  acquired,  de- 
clared himself  a  convert  to  the  Laroi^ieaian  theory. 
His  example  was  irotnediaiely  followed  by  M.Four- 
croy,  also  a  member  of  the  academy,  who  had  snc 
ceeded  Macquer  as  professor  of  chemistry  in  the 
Jardin  du  Roi. 

M.  Fourcroy,  who  was  perfectly  aware  of  the 
strong  feeling  of  patiiotism  which,  at  that  time, 
actuated  almost  every  man  of  science  in  France,  hit 
upon  a  most  infallible  way  of  giving  currency  to  tha 
new  opinions.  To  the  theory  of  Lavoisier  he  gavt 
the  name  of  La  Ckimie  Fran^aise  (French  Chemis- 
try). This  name  was  not  much  relished  by  tavoisier, 
as,  in  his  opinion,  it  deprived  him  of  the  credit  which 
was  his  due;  but  it  certainly  contributed,  more  thaa 
ajiy  thing  else,  to  give  the  new  opinions  currency,  at 
least,  in  France ;  they  became  at  once  a  national 
concern,  and  those  who  still  adhered  to  the  old 
opinions,  were  hooted  and  stigmatized  as  enemies  to 
the  glory  of  their  country.  One  of  the  most  eminent 
of  those  who  still  adhered  to  the  phlogistic  theoiy 
was  M.  Guyton  de  Morveau,  a  nobleman  of  Bur- 
gundy, who  had  been  educated  as  a  lawyer,  and 
who  filled  a  conspicuous  situation  in  the  Parliament 
of  Dijon:  he  had  cultivated  chemistry  with  greatj 
xcul,  and  was  at  that  time  the  editor  of  the  chemical 
part  of  the  Encyclopedie  Methodique.  In  the  firrt 
hulf-volume  of  the  chemical  part  of  this  dictionary, 
which  had  just  appeared,  Morveau  had  supported 
the  docti'ine  of  phlogiston,  and  opposed  the  opinion* 
of  Lavoisier  with  much  zeal  nud  considerable  skill: 


PROGRBSft   OF  CHEMISTRY   IN   FRAVCE.       131 

on  this  acconnt,  it  became  an  object  of  considerable 
consequence  to  satisfy  Morveau  that  his  opinions 
were  inaccurate,  and  to  make  him  a  convert  to  the 
antiphlogistic  theory ;  for  the  whole  matter  was 
managed  as  if  it  had  been  a  political  intrigue,  rather 
than  a  philosophical  inquiry. 

Morveau  was  accordingly  invited  to  Paris,  and 
Lavoisier  succeeded  without  difficulty  in  bringing 
him  over  to  his  own  opinions.  We  are  ignorant  of 
the  means  which  he  took  ;  no  doubt  friendly  discus- 
sion and  the  repetition  of  the  requisite  experiments, 
would  be  sufficient  to  satisfy  a  man  so  well  ac* 
quainted  with  the  subject,  and  whose  mode  of 
thinking  was  so  liberal  as  Morveau.  Into  the  middle 
of  the  second  half-volume  of  the  chemical  part  of  the 
Encyclopedic  Methodique  he  introduced  a  long 
advertisement,  announcing  this  change  in  his 
opinions,  and  assigning  his  reasons  for  it. 

The  chemical  nomenclature  at  that  time  in  use 
had  originated  with  the  medical  chemists,  and  con- 
tained a  multiplicity  of  unwieldy  and  unmeaning, 
and  even  absurd  terms.  It  had  answered  the  pur- 
poses of  chemists  tolerably  well  while  the  science 
was  in  its  infancy ;  but  the  number  of  new  sub- 
stances brought  into  view  had  of  late  years  become 
ao  great,  that  the  old  names  could  not  be  applied  to 
them  without  the  utmost  straining :  and  the  che- 
mical terms  in  use  were  so  little  systematic  that  it 
Inquired  a  considerable  stretch  of  memory  to  retain 
them.  These  evils  were  generally  acknowledged  and 
lamented,  and  various  attempts  had  been  made  to 
correct  them.  Bergman,  for  instance,  had  con- 
trived a  new  nomenclature,  confined  chiefly  to  the 
.salts  and  adapted  to  the  Latin  language.  Dr.  Black 
had  done  the  same  thing :  his  nomenclature  pos- 
sessed both  elegance  and  neatness,  and  was,  in 
several  respects,  superior  to  the  terms  ultimately 

k2 


I 

I 
I 


adopted;  but  with  his  usual  indolence  and  disregard 
of  reputation,  be  satisfied  himself  merely  with 
drawing  it  up  in  the  form  of  a  table  and  exhibiting 
it  to  his  class.  Morveau  contrived  a  new  nomen- 
clature of  the  salts,  and  published  it  in  1783;  and 
it  appears  to  have  been  seen  and  approved  of  by 
Bei^man. 

The  old  chemical  phraseology  as  far  as  it  had  any 
meaning  was  entirely  conformable  to  the  phlogistic 
theory.  This  was  so  much  the  case  that  it  was  with 
difficulty  that  Lavoisier  was  able  to  render  his  opinloDi 
intelligible  by  means  of  it.  Indeed  it  would  have 
been  out  of  his  power  to  have  conveyed  his  meaning 
to  his  readers,  had  he  not  invented  and  employed  a 
certain  number  of  new  terms.  Lavoisier,  aware  of 
the  defects  of  the  chemical  nomenclature,  and  sen- 
sible of  the  advantage  which  his  own  doctrine  would 
acquire  wheu  dressed  up  in  a  language  exactly 
suited  to  his  views,  was  easily  prevailed  upon  by 
Morveau  to  join  with  him  in  forming  a  new  nomen- 
clature to  be  henceforth  employed  exclusively  by 
the  antiphlogistians,  as  they  called  themselves. 
For  this  purpose  they  associated  with  themselves 
Berthollet,  and  Fourcroy.  We  do  not  know  what 
part  each  took  in  this  important  undertaking ;  but,  if 
we  are  to  judge  from  appearances,  the  new  nomencla- 
ture was  almost  exclusively  the  work  of  Lavoisier  and'' 
Morveau.  Lavoisier  undoubtedly  contrived  the  ge- 
neral phrases,  and  the  names  applied  to  the  simi^a 
substances,  so  far  as  they  were  new,  because  he  had 
employed  the  greater  number  of  them  in  his  writings 
before  the  new  nomenclature  was  concocted.  That 
the  mode  of  naming  the  salts  originated  with  Mor- 
veau is  obvious ;  for  it  differs  but  little  from  the 
nomenclature  of  the  salts  published  by  him  four  yean 
before. 

The  new  nomenclature  was  published  by  Lavoi- 


PROGRESS  OF  CH2MISTRT  IN  FRANCE.   133 

sier  and  his  associates  in  1787,  and  it  was  ever  after 
employed  by  them  in  all  their  writings.  Aware  of 
the  importance  of  having  a  periodical  work  in  which 
they  could  register  and  make  known  their  opinions, 
they  established  the  Annales  de  Chimie,  as  a  sort 
of  counterpoise  to  the  Journal  de  Physiquey  the 
editor  of  which ,  M.  Delametherie,  continued  a  zealous 
TOtary  of  phlogiston  to  the  end  of  his  life.  This  new 
nomenclature  very  soon  made  its  way  into  every 
part  of  Europe,  and  became  the  common  language 
of  chemists,  in  spite  of  the  prejudices  entertained 
gainst  it,  and  the  opposition  which  it  every  where 
met  with.  In  the  year  1796,  or  nine  years  after 
the  appearance  of  the  new  nomenclature,  when  I 
attended  the  chemistry-class  in  the  College  of  Edin- 
burgh, it  was  not  only  in  common  use  among  the 
students,  but  was  employed  by  Dr.  Black,  the  pro- 
fessor of  chemistry,  himself;  and  I  have  no  doubt 
that  he  had  introduced  it  into  his  lectures  several 
years  before.  This  extraordinary  rapidity  with  which 
the  new  chemical  language  came  into  use,  was  doubt- 
less owing  to  two  circumstances.  First,  the  very  de- 
fective, vague,  and  barbarous  state  of  the  old  chemical 
nomenclature :  for  although,  in  consequence  of  the 
prodigious  progress  which  the  science  of  chemistry 
has  made  since  the  time  of  Lavoisier,  his  nomen- 
clature is  now  nearly  as  inadequate  to  express  our 
ideas  as  that  of  Stahl  was  to  express  his ;  yet,  at 
the  time  of  its  appearance,  its  superiority  over  the 
old  nomenclature  was  so  great,  that  it  was  immedi- 
ately felt  and  acknowledged  by  all  those  who  were 
acquiring  the  science,  who  are  the  most  likely  to  be 
free  from  prejudices,  and  who,  in  the  course  of  a 
few  years,  must  constitute  the  great  body  of  those 
who  are  interested  in  the  science.  2.  The  second 
circumstance,  to  which  the  rapid  triumph  of  the 
new  nomenclature  was  owing,  is  the  superiority  of 


I 


BISTORT  OF  CHEMISTftT. 

Lavoisier's  theory  over  that  of  Stahl.  The  subeo* 
qnent  progress  of  the  science  has  betrayed  maaj 
weak  points  in  Lavoisier's  opinions ;  yet  its  supe- 
riority over  that  of  Stahl  was  so  obvious,  and  the 
mode  of  interrogating  nature  introduced  by  him  was 
BO  good,  and  so  well  calculated  to  advance  the  sci- 
ence, that  no  unprejudiced  person,  who  was  at  suffi- 
cient pains  to  examine  both,  could  hesitate  about 
preferring  that  of  Lavoisier.  It  was  therefore  gene- 
rally embraced  by  all  the  young  chemists  in  every 
country;  and  they  became,  at  the  same  time,  patti^ 
to  the  new  nomenclature,  by  which  only  that  theory 
could  be  explained  in  an  intelligible  manner. 

When  the  new  nomenclature  was  published,  there 
were  only  three  nations  in  Europe  who  could  bo 
considered  as  holding  a.  distinguished  place  as  cul- 
tivators of  chemistry  :  France,  Germany,  and  Great 
Britain.  For  Sweden  had  just  lost  her  two  great 
chemists,  Bergman  and  Schceie,  and  had  been 
obliged,  in  consequence,  to  descend  from  the  high 
chemical  rank  which  she  had  formerly  occupied. 
In  France  the  fashion,  and  of  course  almost  the 
whole  nation,  were  on  the  side  of  the  new  che- 
mistry, Macquer,  who  had  been  a  stanch  phlo- 
gistian  to  the  last,  was  just  dead,  Monnet  was 
closing  his  laborious  career.  Baume  continued  to 
adhere  to  the  old  opinions ;  but  he  was  old,  and 
his  chemical  skill,  which  had  never  been  accurate, 
was  totally  eclipsed  by  the  more  elaborate  re- 
searches of  Lavoisier  and  his  friends.  Delametherie 
was  a  keen  phlogistian,  a  man  of  some  abilities,  of 
remarkable  honesty  and  integrity,  and  editor  of  the 
Journal  de  Physique,  at  that  time  a  popular  and 
widely-circulating  scientific  journal.  But  his  habits, 
disposition,  and  conduct,  were  by  no  means  suited 
to  the  taste  of  his  countrymen,  or  conformable  to 
the  practice  of  his  contemporaries.  The  consequence 


FROGRSSS   OF  CHEMISTRY    IN   FRANCE.       135 

I,  that  he  was  shut  out  of  all  the  scientific  coteries 
■©f  Paris  J  and  that  his  opinionB,  however  strongly, 
er  rather  violeutly  expressed,  failed  to  produce  the 
intended  eflect.  Indeed,  as  his  views  were  gene- 
rally inaccurate,  and  expressed  without  any  regard 
to  tlie  rules  of  good  manners,  they  in  all  probability 
lather  served  to  promote  than  to  injure  the  cause  of 
his  opponents.  Lavoisier  and  his  friends  appear  to 
have  considered  the  subject  in  this  light:  they  never 
answered  any  of  his  attacks,  or  indeed  took  any  no~ 
tice  of  them.  France,  then,  from  thedateof  the  pub- 
lication of  the  new  nomenclature,  might  be  considered 
as  enlisted  on  the  side  of  the  antiphlogistic  theory. 

The  case  was  very  different  in  Germany.  The 
national  prejudices  of  the  Germans  were  naturally 
enlisted  on  the  side  of  Stahl,  who  was  their  country- 
nan,  and  whose  reputation  would  be  materially 
injured  by  the  refutation  of  his  theory.  The  cause 
of  phlogiston,  accordingly,  was  taken  up  by  several 
German  chemists,  and  supported  with  a  good  deal 
of  vigour ;  and  a  controversy  was  carried  on  for 
some  years  in  Germany  between  the  old  chemists 
who  adhered  to  the  doctrine  of  Stalil,  and  the  young 
chemists  who  had  embraced  the  theory  of  Lavoisier. 
Gren,  who  was  at  that  time  the  editor  of  a  chemical 
journal,  deservedly  held  in  high  estimation,  and 
whose  reputation  as  a  chemist  stood  rather  high  in 
Gcermany,  finding  it  impossible  to  defend  the  Stahliaa 
theory  as  it  had  been  originally  laid  down,  intro- 
duced a  new  modification  of  phlogiston,  and  at- 
tempted to  maintain  it  against  the  antiphlogistians. 
""  !  death  of  Gren  and  of  Wiegleb,  who  were  the 

Bat  champions  of  phlogiston,  left  the  field  open 

jgistians,  who  soon  took  possession  of 

;  universities  and  scientific  journals  in  Ger- 

The  most  eminent  chemist  in  Germany,  or 

Q  Europe  at  that  time,  was  Martin  Henry 


Klaproth,  professor  of  diemistry  at  Berlin,  to  vhoar 
analytical  chemistry  lies  under  the  greatest  obliga-* 
tions.  In  the  year  1792  he  proposed  to  the  Aca- 
demy of  Sciences  of  Berlin,  of  which  he  was  t 
member,  to  repeat  all  the  requisite  experiments 
before  them,  that  the  members  of  the  academy 
might  be  able  to  determine  for  themselves  vhich  w 
the  two  theories  deserved  the  preference.  This  pro- 
posal was  acceded  to.  All  the  fundamental  expe^ 
riments  were  repeated  by  Klaproth  with  the  most 
scrupulous  attention  to  accuracy  :  the  result  was  a 
full  conviction,  on  the  part  of  Klaproth  and  the 
academy,  that  the  Lavoisieriau  theory  was  the  true 
one.  Thus  the  Berlin  Academy  became  anttphlo- 
gistians  in  1792  :  and  as  Berlin  has  always  been  the 
focus  of  chemistry  in  Germany,  the  determinatioa 
of  such  a  learned  body  must  have  had  a  powerful 
effect  in  accelerating  the  propagation  of  the  new 
theory  through  that  vast  country. 

In  Great  Britain  the  investigation  of  gaseous 
bodies,  to  which  the  new  doctrines  were  owing,  had 
originated.  Dr.  Black  had  begun  the  inquiry — Mr. 
Cavendish  had  prosecuted  it  with  unparalleled  ac- 
curacy— and  Dr.  Priestley  had  made  known  a  great 
number  of  new  gaseous  bodies,  which  had  hitherto 
escaped  the  attention  of  chemists.  As  the  British 
chemists  had  contributed  more  than  those  of  any 
other  nation  to  the  production  of  the  new  facts  on 
which  Lavoisier'stheory  was  founded,  it  was  natural 
to  expect  that  they  would  have  embraced  that  theory 
more  readily  than  the  chemists  of  any  other  nation  r 
but  the  matter  of  fact  was  somewhat  different.  Dr. 
Black,  indeed,  with  his  characteristic  candour, 
speedily  embraced  the  opinions,  and  even  adopted 
the  new  nomenclature:  but  Mr,  Cavendish  new 
modelled  the  phlogistic  theory,  and  published  a  de- 
fence of  phlogiston,  which  it  was  impossible  at  iha  t 


PR0GBBS4  07  CHEMISTRT  IV   FRANCE.   137 

time  to  refute.  The  French  chemists  had  the  good 
iiense  not  to  attempt  to  overturn  it.  Mr.  Cavendish 
afier  this  laid  aside  the  cultivation  of  chemistry  alto- 
gether, and  never  acknowledged  himself  a  convert  to 
the  new  doctrines. 

.  Dr.  Priestley  continued  a  zealous  advocate  for 
phl(^iston  till  the  very  last,  and  published  what  he 
called  a  refutation  of  the  antiphlogistic  theory  about 
the  beginning  of  the  present  century :  but  Dr. 
Priestley,  notwithstanding  his  merit  as  a  discoverer 
and  a  man  of  genius,  was  never,  strictly  speakings 
entitled  to  the  name  of  chemist;  as  he  was  never 
aUe  to  make  a  chemical  analysis.  In  his  famous 
experiments,  for  example,  on  the  composition  of 
vater,  he  was  obliged  to  procure  the  assistance  of 
Mr.  Keir  to  determine  the  nature  of  the  blue-co* 
loured  liquid  which  he  had  obtained,  and  which  Mr. 
Keir  showed  to  be  nitrate  of  copper.  Besides,  Dr. 
Priestley,  though  perfectly  honest  and  candid,  was 
80  hasty  in  his  decisions,  and  so  apt  to  form  his 
0|Mnions  without  duly  considering  the  subject,  that 
his  chemical  theories  are  almost  all  erroneous  and 
sometimes  quite  absurd. 

Mr.  Kirwan,  who  had  acquired  a  high  reputation^ 
partly  by  his  mineralogy ,  and  partly  by  his  ex- 
periments on  the  composition  of  the  salts,  under- 
took the  task  of  refuting  the  antiphlogistic  theory, 
and  with  that  view  published  a  work  to  which  he 
gave  the  name  of  ''  An  Essay  on  Phlogiston  and 
the  Composition  of  Acids."  In  that  book  he  main- 
tained an  opinion  which  seems  to  have  been  pretty 
generally  adopted  by  the  most  eminent  chemists 
of  the  time ;  namely,  that  phlogiston  is  the  same 
thing  with  what  is  at  present  called  hydrogen^  and 
which,  when  Kirwan  vnrote,  was  called  light  tii- 
JUmmable  air.  Of  course  Mr.  Kirwan  undertcx>k 
Id  prove  that  every  combustible  substance  and  every 


I 
I 


138  niSTORY  OF  caEMisntir:  ~ 

metal  contains  hydrogen  as  a  constituent,  and  that 
hydrogen  escapes  in  every  case  of  combustion  and 
calcination.  On  the  other  hand,  when  calces  are  re- 
duced to  the  metallic  state  hydrogen  is  absorbed. 
The  book  was  divided  into  thirteen  sections.  In  the 
first  the  speci^c  gravity  of  the  gases  was  stated  ac< 
cording  to  the  best  data  then  existing.  The  second 
section  treats  of  the  composition  of  acids,  and  the 
composition  and  decomposition  of  water.  The 
third  section  treats  of  sulphuric  acid;  the  fourth,  of 
nitric  acid  ;  the  6fth,  of  muriatic  acid;  the  sixth,  of 
aquaregia;  theseventh.ofphosphoricacid;  theeighlh, 
of  oxalic  acid;  the  ninth,  of  the  calcination  and  reduc- 
tion of  metals  and  tbeforraation  of  fixed  air;  the  tenth, 
of  the  dissolution  of  metals;  the  eleventh,  of  the  pre- 
cipitation of  metals  by  each  other;  thetwelfth,  of  the 
properties  of  iron  and  steel ;  while  the  thirteenth  sums 
up  the  whole  argument  by  way  of  conclusion. 

In  this  work  Mr.  Kirwan  admitted  the  truth  of 
M.  Lavoisier's  theory,  that  during  combustion  and 
calcination,  oxygen  united  witli  the  burning  and 
calcining  body.  He  admitted  also  that  water  is  x 
compound  of  oxygen  and  hydrogen.  Now  these 
admissions,  which,  however,  it  was  scarcely  possible 
for  a  man  of  candour  to  refuse,  rendered  the  whola 
of  his  arguments  in  favour  of  the  identity  of  hydro- 
gen and  phlogiston,  and  of  the  existence  of  hydrt^n 
m  all  combustible  bodies,  exceedingly  inconclusive. 
Kirwan 's  book  was  laid  hold  of  by  the  Frenck 
chemists,  as  atTording  them  an  excellent  opportunity 
of  showing  the  superiority  of  the  new  opinions  over 
the  old,  Kirwan's  viewof  the  subject  was  that  which 
had  been  taken  by  Bergman  and  Scheele,  and  in- 
deed by  every  chemist  of  eminence  who  still  adhered 
to  the  phlogistic  system.  A  satisfactory  refutation 
of  it,  therefore,  would  be  a  death-blow  to  phlogistoa 
and  would  place  the  antiphlogistic  theory  upon  B 


F    CnEMlSTRY    IN    PRANCE.        139 


^B^wis  Eo  secure  that  it  would  be  henceforth  impos- 
H  iifale  to  shake  it. 


-  Kirwan's  work  on  phlog-iston  was  accordingly 
translated  into  French,  and  published  in  Paris. 
At  the  end  of  each  section  was  placed  an  examina- 
tion and  refutation  of  the  argument  contained  in  it 
by  some  one  of  the  French  chemists,  who  had  now  as- 
sociated themselves  in  order  to  support  the  antiphlo- 
gistic theory.  The  introduction,  together  with  the 
second,  third,  and  eleventh  sections  were  examined 
and  refuted  by  M.  Lavoisier;  the  fourth,  the  fifth, 
and  sixth  sections  fell  to  the  share  of  M.  Berthollet; 
the  seventh  and  thirteenth  sections  were  undertaken 
by  M.  de  Morveau ;  the  eighth,  ninth,  and  tenth,  by 
M.  De  Fourcroy;  while  the  twelfth  section,  on  iron 
and  steel  was  animadverted  on  by  M.  Monge.  These 
refutations  were  conducted  with  so  much  urbanity  of 
manner,  and  were  at  the  same  time  so  complete, 
that  they  produced  all  the  effects  expected  from 
them.  Mr.  Kirwan,  with  a  degree  of  candour  and 
Kberality  of  which,  unfortunately,  very  few  examples 
can  be  pVoduced,  renounced  liia  old  opinions,  aban- 
doned phlogiston,  and  adopted  the  antiphh  gistic 
doctrines  of  his  opponents.  But  his  advanced  age, 
and  a  different  mode  of  experimenting  from  what 
he  had  been  accustomed  to,  induced  him  to  with- 
draw himself  entirely  from  experimental  science  and 
to  devote  the  evening  of  his  life  to  metaphysical  and 
logical  and  moral  investigations. 

Thus,  soon  after  the  year  1790,  a  kind  of  inter- 
r^)um  took  place  in  British  chemistry.  Almost  all 
the  old  British  chemists  had  relinquished  the  science, 
or  been  driven  out  of  the  field  by  the  superior 
prowess  of  their  antagonists.  Dr.  Austin  and  Dr. 
Pearson  will,  perhaps,  be  pointed  out  as  exceptions. 
They  undoubtedly  contributed  somewhat  to  the 
I  progress  of  the  science.     But  they  were  arranged  on 


HISTO&T   0>   CHEJIISTKT. 


I 
I 


the  aide  of  the  antiphlogUtians.  Dr.  Crawford,  who 
had  doDe  so  much  for  the  theory  of  heat,  was  about 
this  time  ruined  iu  his  circumstances  by  [he  bank- 
ruptcy of  a  house  to  which  he  had  intrusted  his 
property.  This  circumstance  preyed  upon  a  mind 
which  had  a  natural  tendency  to  morbid  sensibility, 
and  induced  this  amiable  and  excellent  mao  to  put 
an  end  to  his  existence.  Dr.  Higgins  had  acquired 
some  celebrity  as  an  experimenter  and  teacher ;  but 
his  disputes  with  Dr.  Priestley,  and  his  laying  claim  to 
discoveries  which  certainly  did  not  belong  to  him, 
had  injured  his  reputation,  and  led  him  to  desert 
the  6eld  of  science.  Dr.  Black  was  an  invalid, 
Mr.  Cavendish  had  renounced  the  cultivation  of 
chemistry,  and  Dr.  Priestley  had  been  obliged  to  es- 
cape from  the  iron  hand  of  theological  and  political 
bigotry,  by  leaving  the  country.  He  did  little  as 
an  experimenter  after  he  went  to  America;  and, 
perhaps,  had  he  remained  in  England,  his  repu- 
tation would  rather  have  diminished  than  increased. 
He  was  an  admirable  pioneer,  and  as  such,  contri- 
buted more  than  any  one  to  the  revolution  which 
chemistry  underwent;  though  he  was  himself  utterly 
unable  to  rear  a  permanent  structure  capable,  like 
the  Newtonian  theory,  uf  wilhstanding  all  manner 
of  attacks,  and  becommg  only  the  firmer  and  stronger  , 
the  more  it  is  examined.  Mr.  Keir,  of  Birminghain, 
was  a  man  of  great  eloquence,  and  possessed  of  all 
the  chemical  knowledge  which  characterized  the 
votaries  of  phlogiston.  In  the  year  1789  he  at- 
tempted to  stem  the  current  of  the  new  opinions  by 
publishing  a  dictionary  of  chemistry,  in  which  aU 
the  controversial  points  were  to  be  fully  discussed, 
and  the  antiphlogistic  theory  examined  and  refuted. 
Of  this  dictionary  only  one  part  appeared,  consti- 
tuting a  very  thin  volume  of  two  hundred  and  eight 
quarto  pages,  and  treating  almost  entirely  of  adds- 


pnOGRKSS   OF   CHEMIBTUY   IN    FRANCE.       141 

■3Riiding  that  the  sale  of  this  work  did  not  answer  his 
expectations,  and  probably  feeling,  as  he  proceeded, 
that  the  task  of  refuting  the  antiphlogistic  opinions 
was  much  more  difficult,  and  much  more  hopeless 
than  he  expected,  he  renounced  the  undertaking, 
and  abandoned  altogether  the  pursuit  of  chemistry. 

It  will  be  proper  in  this  place  to  introduce  some 
account  of  the  most  eminent  of  those  French  che- 
mists who  embraced  the  theory  of  Lavoisier,  and 
assisted  bim  in  establishing  his  opinions. 

Claude-Louis  Berthollet  was  bom  at  Talloire, 
near  Annecy,  in  Savoy,  on  the  9th  of  December, 
1748.  He  finished  his  school  education  at  Cham- 
bery,  and  afterwards  studied  at  the  College  of  Turin, 
a  celebrated  establishment,  where  many  men  of 
great  scientific  celebrity  have  been  educated.  Here 
he  attached  himself  to  medicine,  and  after  obtain- 
ing a  degree  he  repaired  to  Paris,  which  was  des- 
tined to  be  the  future  theatre  of  his  speculations 
and  pursuits. 

In  Paris  he  had  not  a  single  acquaintance,  nor 
did  he  bring  with  him  a  single  introductory  letter; 
but  understanding  that  M.  Tronchin,  at  that  time 
a  distinguished  medical  practitioner  in  Paris,  was 
a  native  of  Geneva,  he  thought  he  might  consider 
htm  as  in  some  measure  a  countryman.  On  this 
slender  ground  he  waited  on  M,  Tronchin,  and 
what  is  rather  surprising,  and  reflects  great  credit 
on  both,  this  acquaintance,  begun  in  so  uncommon 
a  way,  soon  ripened  into  friendship.  Tronchin  in- 
terested himself  for  his  young  protegee,  and  soon. 
got  him  into  the  situation  of  physician  in  ordinary 
to  the  Duke  of  Orleans,  father  of  him  who  cut  so 
conspicuous  a  figure  in  the  French  revolution,  under 
the  name  of  M.  ^alite.  In  this  situation  he  devoted 
biiDself  to  the  study  of  chemistry,  and  soon  made 
himself  known  by  his  publications  on  the  subject. 


14-2 


F  cnsmsTST. 


I 


I 


In  1781  he  was  elected  a  member  of  tfae  Academy  , 
of  Sciences  of  Paris ;  one  of  hia  competitors  wa« 
M.  Fourcroy.  No  doubt  Berthollet  owed  his  elec- 
tion to  the  influence  of  the  Duke  of  Orleans.  !n 
the  year  1784  he  was  again  a  competitor  with  M< 
de  Fourcroy  for  the  chemical  chair  at  the  Jardin 
du  Roi,  left  vacant  by  the  death  of  Macquer. 
The  chair  was  in  the  gift  of  M,  Buffon,  whose 
vanity  is  said  to  ha\e  been  piqued  because  the 
Duke  of  Orleans,  who  supported  Berthollet's  in- 
terest, did  not  pay  hira  sufficient  court.  This  in- 
duced him  to  give  the  chair  to  Fourcroy ;  and  the 
clioice  was  a  fortunate  one,  as  his  uncommon 
vivacity  and  rapid  elocution  particularly  fitted  him 
for  addressing  a  Parisian  audience.  The  chemistry- 
class  at  the  Jardin  du  Roi  immediately  became 
celebrated,  and  attracted  immense  crowds  of  ad- 
miring- auditors. 

But  the  influence  of  the  Duke  of  Orleans  was 
sufficient  to  procure  for  Berthollet  another  situation 
which  Macquer  had  held.  This  was  government 
commissary  and  superintendent  of  the  dyeing  pro- 
cesses. It  was  this  situation  which  naturally  turned 
his  attention  to  the  phenomsna  of  dyeing,  and 
occasioned  afterwards  his  book  on  dyeing;  which 
at  the  time  of  its  publication  was  excellent,  and 
exhibited  a  much  better  theory  of  dyeing,  and  a  ' 
better  account  of  the  practical  part  of  the  art  than 
any  work  which  had  previously  appeared.  The  arts 
of  dyeing  and  calico-printing  have  lieen  very  much 
improved  since  the  time  that  Berthollet's  book  wai 
written ;  yet  if  we  except  Bancroft's  work  on  th« 
permanent  colours,  nothing  very  important  has  been 
published  on  the  subject  since  that  period.  We 
are  at  present  almost  as  much  in  want  of  a  good 
work  on  dyeing  as  we  were  when  Bertbollet's  book 
appeared. 


pnoGRESS   Og  CHEMISTRY   IN    FBANCE.        143 

In  the  year  1785  Berthollet,  at  a  meeting  of 
the  Academy  of  Sciences,  informed  tliat  learned 
body  that  he  had  become  a  convert  to  the  anti- 
pblogisUc  doctrioes  of  Lavoisier.  There  was  one 
point,  however,  upon  which  he  enlevtained  a  dif- 
lereot  opiniuD  from  Lavoisier,  and  this  difference 
of  opinion  continued  to  the  last.  Berthollet  did 
not  consider  oxygen  as  tlie  acidifying  principle. 
On  the  contrary,  he  was  of  opinion  that  acids  ex- 
isted which  contained  no  oxygen  whatever.  As 
an  example,  he  mentioned  sulphuretted  hydrogen, 
which  possessed  the  properties  of  an  acid,  redden- 
ing vegetable  blues,  and  combining  with  and  neu- 
tralizing bases,  and  yet,  it  was  a  compound  of 
snlphur  and  hydrogen,  and  contained  no  oxygen 
whatever.  It  is  now  admitted  that  Berthollet  was 
accurate  in  his  opinion,  and  that  oxygen  is  not 
of  itself  an  acidifying  principle. 

Berthollet  continued  in  the  uninterrupted  prose- 
cution of  his  studies,  and  had  raised  himself  a  very 
high  reputation  when  the  French  revolution  burst 
upon  the  world  in  all  its  magnificence.  It  is  not 
our  business  here  to  enter  into  any  historical  details, 
but  merely  to  remind  the  reader  that  all  the  g-reat 
powers  of  Europe  combined  to  attack  France,  as- 
listed  by  a  formidable  army  of  French  emigrants 
assembled  at  Cobleotz.  The  Austrian  and  Prussian 
armies  hemmed  her  in  by  land,  while  the  British 
fleets  surrounded  her  by  sea,  and  thus  shut  ber  out 
from  all  communication  with  other  nations.  Thus 
France  was  thrown  at  once  upon  her  own  re- 
■ources.  She  had  been  in  the  habit  of  importing 
her  saltpetre,  and  her  iron,  and  many  other  ne- 
cessary implements  of  war :  these  supplies  were 
■uddenly  withdrawn;  and  It  was  expected  that 
France,  thus  deprived  of  all  her  resources,  would  be 
obliged  to  submit  to  any  terms  imposed  upon  her  by 


I 


144  HISTORY  OT  CHaWTSTRT. 

her  adversaries.     At  this  time  she  summoned  hec 

men  of  science  to  her  assistance,  and  the  call  was 
speedily  answered.      Berthollet   and    Monge    wei« 

Sarticiilarly  active,  and  saved  the  French  natio& 
^m  destruction  by  their  activity,  intelligence,  and 
zeal.  Berthoilet  traversed  France  from  one  extre- 
mity to  the  other ;  pointed  out  the  mode  of  extract* 
ing  saltpetre  from  the  soil,  and  of  purifying  it. 
Saltpetre-works  were  inataotly  established  in  every 
part  of  France,  and  gunpowder  made  of  it  in  pro- 
digious quantity,  and  with  incredihle  activity.  Bep* 
thollet  even  attempted  to  manufacture  a  new  spedeS 
of  gunpowder  still  more  powerful  than  the  old,  bj 
substituting  chlorate  of  potash  for  saltpetre  ;  but  It 
was  found  too  formidable  a  substance  to  be  made 
with  safety. 

The  demand  for  cannon,  muskets,  sabres,  &c., 
was  equally  urgent  and  equally  difficult  to  be  sup^ 
plied.  A  committee  of  men  of  science,  of  which 
Berthoilet  and  Monge  were  the  leading  m^nbera, 
was  established,  and  by  them  the  mode  of  smelting 
iron,  and  of  converting  it  into  steel,  was  instantlf 
communicated,  and  numerous  manufactories  of  these 
indispensable  articles  rose  like  magic  in  every  part 
of  France. 

This  was  the  most  important  period  of  the  life  of 
of  Berthoilet.  It  was  in  all  probability  his  zeal, 
activity,  sagacity,  and  honesty,  which  saved  Francs 
from  being  overrun  by  foreign  troops.  But  perhapt 
the  mora!  conduct  of  Berthoilet  was  not  less  cott- 
spicuous  than  his  other  qualities.  During  the  reign 
of  terror,  a  short  time  before  the  9th  Thermidor,. 
when  it  was  the  system  to  raise  up  pretended  plots, 
to  give  pretexts  for  putting  to  death  those  that  were 
obnoxious  to  Robespierre  and  his  friends,  a  hasty 
notice  was  given  at  a  sitting  of  the  Committee  of 
Public  Safety,  that  a  conspiracy  had  just  been  da- 


PEOORBSS  OF   CHEMISTRY   IN    TRANCE.       14.5 

covered  to  destroy  the  soldiers,  by  poisoning  the 
brandy  which  was  just  going  to  be  served  out  to 
them  previous  to  an  engagement.  It  was  said  that 
the  sick  in  the  hospitals  who  had  tasted  this  brandy, 
all  perished  in  consequence  of  it.  Immediate  orders 
were  issued  to  arrest  those  previously  marked  for 
execution.  A  quantity  of  the  brandy  was  sent  to 
SerthoUet  to  be  examined.  He  was  informed,  at 
the  same  time,  that  Robespierre  wanted  a  conspiracy 
to  be  established,  and  all  knew  that  opposition  to 
his  will  was  certain  destruction.  Having  finished 
his  analysis,  Berthollet  drew  up  his  results  in  a 
Heport,  which  he  accompanied  with  a  written  ex- 
planation of  his  views ;  and  he  there  stated,  in  the 
plainest  language,  that  nothing  poisonous  was  mixed 
-with  the  brandy,  but  that  it  had  been  diluted  with 
water  holding  small  particles  of  slate  in  suspension, 
an  ingredient  which  filtration  would  remove.  This 
report  deranged  the  plans  of  the  Committee  of  Pub- 
lic Safety.  They  sent  for  the  author,  to  convince 
him  of  the  inaccuracy  of  his  analysis,  and  to  per- 
suade him  to  alter  its  results.  Finding  that  he 
remained  unshaken  in  his  opinion,  Robespierre  ex- 
claimed, *'  What,  Sir  !  darest  thou  affirm  that  the 
muddy  brandy  is  free  from  poison?"  Berthollet 
immediately  filtered  a  glass  of  it  in  his  presence, 
and  drank  it  off.  '*  Thou  art  daring.  Sir,  to  drink 
that  liquor,"  exclaimed  the  ferocious  president  of 
the  committee.  "I*  dared  much  more,"  replied 
Berthollet,  "  when  I  signed  my  name  to  that  Re- 
port." There  can  be  no  doubt  that  he  would  have 
paid  the  penalty  of  this  undaunted  honesty  with  his 
life,  but  that  fortunately  the  Committee  of  Public 
Safety  could  not  at  that  time  dispense  with  his 
services. 

In  the  year  1792  Berthollet  was  named  one  of 
the  commissioners  of  the  Mint,  into  the  processes 

VOL.    II.  L 


■  of  w] 


HISTORY   or   CHEMIETRT. 


of  which  he  introduced  considerable  improvementa. 
In  1794  he  was  appointed  a  member  of  the  CommiB- 
Bion  of  Agriculture  and  the  Arts :  and  in  the  course 
of  the  same  year  he  was  chosen  professor  of  che- 
mistry at  the  Polytechnic  School  and  also  in  the 
Normal  Scliool.  But  his  turn  of  mind  did  not  fit 
him  for  a  public  teacher.  He  expected  too  much 
information  to  be  possessed  by  his  hearers,  and  did 
not,  therefore,  dwelt  sufficiently  upon  the  elementary 
details.  His  pupils  were  not  able  to  follow  htt 
metaphysical  disquisitions  on  subjects  totally  new 
to  them ;  hence,  instead  of  inspiring  them  with  • 
love  for  chemistry,  be  Ailed  them  with  langour  and 
disgust. 

In  1795,  at  the  organization  of  the  Institute, 
which  was  intended  to  include  all  men  of  talent  or 
celebrity  in  France,  we  find  Berthollet  taking  a  moK 
active  lead ;  and  the  records  of  the  Institute  afford 
abundant  evidence  of  the  perseverance  and  assiduitT 
with  which  he  laboured  for  its  interests.  Of  the 
committees  to  which  all  original  memoirs  are  in  the 
first  place  referred,  vi'e  find  Berthollet,  oftener  than 
any  other  person,  a  member,  and  his  signature  to 
the  report  of  each  work  stands  generally  first. 

In  the  year  1796,  after  the  subjugation  of  Italy 
by  Bonaparte,  Berthollet  and  Monge  were  selected 
by  the  Directory  to  proceed  to  that  country,  in  order 
to  select  those  works  of  science  and  art  with  whick 
the  Louvre  was  to  be  filled  'and  adorned.  While 
engaged  in  the  prosecution  of  that  duty,  they  bft- 
came  acquainted  with  the  victorious  general.  He 
easily  saw  the  importance  of  their  friendship,  and 
therefore  cultivated  it  with  care;  and  was  happy 
afterwards  to  possess  them,  along  with  nearly  « 
hundred  other  philosophers,  as  his  companions  is 
his  celebrated  expedition  to  Egvpt,  expecting  n* 
doubt  an  eclat  from  such  a  halo  of  surrounding 


might  favour  the  deTelopment  of  his 
schemfes  of  future  ^eatness.  Od  this  expedition, 
which  promised  so  favourably  for  the  French  nation, 
and  which  was  intended  to  inflict  a  mortal  stab  upon 
the  comnierclai  greatness  of  Great  Britain,  Bona- 
parte set  out  in  the  jear  [79S,  accompanied  by  a 
crowd  of  the  most  eminent  men  of  science  that 
France  could  boast  of.  That  they  might  co-operate 
more  cfiectually  in  the  cause  of  knowledge,  these 
gentlemen  formed  themselves  into  a  society,  named 
"  The  Institute  of  Egypt,"  which  was  constituted  on 
the  same  plan  as  the  National  Institute  of  France, 
Their  first  meeting  was  on  the  6th  Fractidor  (34th 
of  August,  1798;  and  after  that  they  continued  to 
assemble,  at  stated  intervals.  At  these  meetings 
papers  were  read,  by  the  respective  members,  on  the 
climate,  the  inhabitants,  and  the  natural  and  arti- 
ficial productions  of  the  country  to  which  they  had 
gone.  These  memoirs  were  published  in  1800,  in 
Paris,  in  a  single  volume  entitled,  "  Memoirs  of  the 
Institute  of  Egypt." 

The  history  of  the  Institute  of  Egypt,  as  related 
by  Cuvier,  is  not  a  little  singular,  and  deserves  to 
be  stated.  Bonaparte,  during  his  occasional  inter- 
course with  Berthollet  in  Italy,  was  delighted  with 
the  simplicity  of  his  manners,  joined  to  a  force  and 
depth  of  thinking  which  he  soon  perceived  to  cha- 
racterize our  chemist.  When  he  returned  to  Paris, 
where  he  enjoyed  some  months  of  comparative  lei- 
8ure,  he  resolved  to  employ  his  spare  time  in  study- 
ing chemistry  under  BeithoUct.  It  was  at  this 
period  that  his  illustrious  pupil  imparted  to  our  phi- 
losopher his  intended  expedition  to  Egypt,  of  which 
no  whisper  was  to  be  spread  abroad  till  the  blow  was 
ready  to  fall;  and  he  begged  of  him  not  merely  to 
accompany  the  army  himself,  but  to  choose  such 
men  of  talent  and  experience  as  he  conceived  fitted 


to  find  there  an  employment  worthy  of  the  country 
which  they  visited,  and  of  that  which  sent  them 
forth.  To  invite  men  to  a  hazardous  expeditioD, 
the  nature  and  destination  of  which  he  was  not  per- 
mitted to  disclose,  was  rather  a  delicate  task ;  yet 
fierthoUet  undertook  it.  He  could  simply  inform 
them  that  he  would  himself  accompany  them  ;  yet 
such  waa  the  universal  esteem  in  which  he  was  held, 
such  was  the  confidence  universally  placed  in  his 
honesty  and  integrity,  that  all  the  men  of  science 
agreed  at  once,  and  without  hesitation,  to  embark 
on  an  unknown  expedition,  the  dangers  of  which  he 
waa  to  share  along  with  them.  Had  it  not  been  foe 
the  link  which  Berthollet  supplied  between  the  com- 
mander-in-chief and  the  men  of  science,  it  would 
have  been  impossible  to  have  united,  as  was  done 
on  this  occasion,  the  advancement  of  knowledge 
with  the  progress  of  the  French  arms. 

During  the  whole  of  this  expedition,  Berthollet 
and  Monge  distinguished  themselves  by  their  firm 
friendship,  and  by  their  mutually  braving  every  dan- 
ger to  which  any  of  the  common  soldiers  could  be 
exposed.  Indeed,  so  intimate  was  their  association 
that  many  of  the  army  conceived  Berthollet  and 
Monge  to  be  one  individual ;  and  it  is  no  small  proof 
of  the  intimacy  of  these  philosophers  with  Bonaparte, 
that  the  soldiers  had  a  dislike  at  this  double  per- 
sonage, from  a  persuasion  that  it  had  been  at  his 
suggestion  that  tliey  were  led  into  a  country  which 
they  detested.  It  happened  on  one  occasion  that  a. 
boat,  in  which  Berthollet  and  some  others  were  con- 
veyed up  the  Nile,  was  assailed  by  atroop  of  Mame- 
lukes, who  poured  their  small  shot  into  it  from  the 
banks.  In  the  midst  of  this  perilous  voyage,  M. 
Berthollet  began  very  coolly  to  pick  up  stones  and 
stuif  his  pockets  with  them.  When  his  motive  f<w 
this  conduct  was  asked,  "'  I  am  desirous,"  said  he. 


PROGRESS    OF    CHEMISTRY    IN    I'KASCE.        149 

"  that  in  case  of  my  being  shot,  my  body  may  sink 
at  once  to  the  bottom  of  this  river,  and  may  escape 
the  insults  of  these  barbarians." 

In  a  conjuncture  where  a  courage  of  a  rarer  kind 
was  required,  Berthollet  was  not  found  wanting. 
The  plague  broke  out  in  the  French  army,  and  this, 
added  to  the  many  fatigues  they  had  previously  en- 
dured, tlie  diseases  under  which  they  were  already 
labouring,  would,  it  was  feared,  lead  to  insurrec- 
tion OD  the  one  hand,  or  totally  aink  the  spirits  of 
the  men  on  the  other.  Acre  had  been  besieged  for 
many  weeks  in  vain.  Bonaparte  and  his  army  had 
been  able  to  accomplish  nothing  against  it:  he  was 
anxious  to  conceal  from  his  army  this  disastrous 
intelligence.  When  the  opinion  of  Berthollet  was 
asked  in  council,  he  spoke  at  once  the  plain,  though 
unwelcome  truth.  He  waa  instantly  assailed  by  the 
most  violent  reproaches.  "  In  a  week,"  said  he, 
"  my  opinion  will  be  unfortunately  but  too  well  vin- 
dicated." It  was  as  he  foretold  :  and  when  nothing 
but  a  hasty  retreat  could  save  the  wretched  remains 
of  the  army  of  Egypt,  the  carriage  of  Berthollet 
was  seized  for  the  convenience  of  some  wounded 
officers.  On  this,  he  travelled  on  foot,  and  without 
the  smallest  discomposure,  across  twenty  leagues  of 
the  desert. 

When  Napoleon  abandoned  the  army  of  Egypt, 
and  traversed  half  the  Mediterranean  in  a.  single 
vessel,  Berthollet  was  his  companion.  After  he  had 
put  himself  at  the  head  of  the  French  government, 
and  had  acquired  an  estent  of  power,  which  no  mo- 
dern European  potentate  had  ever  before  realized, 
he  never  forgot  his  associate.  He  was  in  the  habit 
of  placing  all  chemical  discoveries  to  his  account, 
to  the  frequent  annoyance  of  our  chemist ;  and 
when  an  unsatisfactory  answer  was  given  him  upon 
any  scientific  subject,  he  was  in  the  habit  of  saying. 


I 


150  HISTORY  or  chehistrt. 

«  Well ;  1  shall  ask  this  of  Berthollet."  But  he  did 
not  limit  hia  affection  to  these  proofs  of  r^ird. 
Having  been  infornied  that  Berlhollet's  earnest  pui- 
auita  of  science  had  kd  him  into  exptDses  which 
bad  considerably  deranged  his  fortune,  he  sent  for 
him,  and  said,  in  a  tone  of  affectionate  reproach, 
*'  M,  Berthollet,  I  have  always  one  hundred  thou- 
sand crowns  at  the  service  of  my  friends,"  And, 
in  fact,  this  sum  was  immediately  presented  to  him. 

Upon  his  return  from  Egypt,  Berthollet  was  no- 
minated a  senator  by  the  first  consul ;  and  after- 
wards received  the  distinction  of  grand  officer  of  the 
Legion  of  Honour;  grand  cross  of  the  Order  of 
Reunion;  titulary  of  the  Senatory  of  Montpellier; 
and,  under  the  emperor,  he  was  created  a  peer  of 
France,  receiving  the  title  of  Coimt.Theadvancement 
to  these  offices  produced  no  change  in  the  manners 
of  Berthollet.  Of  this  he  gave  a  striking  proof,  l^ 
adopting,  as  his  armorial  bearing  (at  the  time  that 
Others  e^erly  blaioned  BOme  exploit),  the  plun 
unadorned  figure  of  hia  faithful  and  affectionate 
dog.  He  was  no  courtier  before  he  received  these 
honours,  and  he  remained  equally  simple  and  un- 
assuming, and  not  less  devoted  to  science  after  thef 
■were  conferred. 

As  we  advance  towards  the  latter  period  of  his 
life,  we  And  the  same  ardent  zeal  in  the  cause  of 
science  which  had  glowed  in  his  early  youth,  ac- 
companied by  the  same  generous  warmth  of  heart 
that  he  ever  possessed,  and  which  displayed  itself 
in  his  many  intimate  friendships  still  subsisting, 
though  mellowed  by  the  hand  of  time.  At  thi* 
period  La  Place  hved  at  Arcueil,  a  small  village 
about  three  miles  from  Paris.  Between  him  and 
Berthollet  there  had  long  subsisted  a  warm  affec- 
tion, founded  on  mutual  esteem.  To  be  near  this 
illustrious  man  Berthollet  purchased  a  country-seat 


PROGREaa  OF  cHEMisTav  in  fuance.     151 

in  the  villtffi;e :  there  he  established  a  very  complete 
laboratory,  fit  for  conducting  all  kinds  of  experi~ 
ments  in  every  branch  of  natural  philosophy.  Hem 
he  collected  round  him  a  number  of  distinguished 
young  men,  who  knew  that  in  his  house  their  ardour 
would  at  once  receive  fresh  impulse  and  dircctioa 
from  the  example  of  Berthollet.  These  youthful 
philosophers  were  organized  by  him  into  a  society, 
to  which  the  name  of  Societe  d'Arcueil  was  given. 
M.  Berthollet  was  himself  the  president,  and  the 
other  members  were  ta.  Place,  Biot,  Gay-Lussac, 
Thenard,  Collet-Descotib,  Decandolle,  Humboldt, 
and  A.  B.  Berthollet.  This  society  published  three 
volumes  of  very  valuable  memoirs.  The  energy 
of  this  society  was  unfortunately  paralyzed  by  an 
nntoward  event,  which  imbittered  the  latter  days  of 
this  amiable  man.  His  only  son,  M.  A.  B.  Ber- 
thollet, in  whom  his  happiness  was  wrapped  up,  was 
unfortunately  afflicted  with  a  lowneSB  of  spirits  which 
rendered  his  life  wholly  insupportable  to  him.  Re- 
tiring to  a  small  room,  he  locked  the  door,  closed 
up  every  chink  and  crevice  which  might  admit  the 
air,  carried  writing  materials  to  a  table,  on  which 
he  placed  a  second-watch,  and  then  seated  himself 
before  it.  He  now  marked  precisely  the  hour,  and 
lighted  a  brasier  of  charcoal  beside  him.  He  con- 
tinued to  note  down  the  series  of  sensations  he  then 
experienced  in  succession,  detailing  ihe  approach. 
and  rapid  progress  of  delirium  ;  until,  as  time  went 
on,  the  writing  became  confused  and  illegible,  and 
the  young  victim  dropped  dead  upon  the  floor. 

After  this  event  the  spirits  of  the  old  man  never 
again  rose.  Occasionally  some  discovery,  extend- 
ing the  limits  of  his  favourite  science,  engrossed  his 
interest  and  attention  for  a  short  time  :  but  such 
intervals  were  rare,  and  shortlived.  The  restora- 
I  tion  of  the  Bourbons,  and  the  dounifal  of  his  friend 


..^  iLr-n-.;.-!    <r  -fTrjiwia- 


ir.-r  i«:r.-:  :-^:.  ..^ -.  ^y^*^  "d  itt  auiETms^  ly 
ur:..:;;*:..:;-:  i^  :.. v^i:.-.  r  :  -REZUiaiir  -um.  nnt  JL 
^jeii-.  tsfi::.--.':. ."-  ■ -iiziisjuLrsi   -^nxiaaxa^BKiisiiL. 

^1    w  -r-if.    ..  ;t     ,:!.    ic-L  "Hi;   ^siL  IT  jis  im  "V^IS 

*--.-r    ■.:;:--:   *-.'r   irr:.::.:   r  i  iusuikST  it  itui&i 
V'-r,'    *,-T    I  iivv-iL    i»-   I   pi:,p^niiiis  iu:*z  if 

l   ;'.-.: J' -.v.I.    •  IK-F   llrr  tlTEtm:  IT  lis  iaiu£!«:!.  £sC  ^3e 


H^  fr.rr.^trj^  lE-aj.;*  p^^  t>  U£  Aiizales  de  Chimie 
urA  %i.H  J'^irr;^!  C^  PbT^iqce.  and  was  also  a  6e- 
'io#rrit  fjf,uU\\fuXfA  u,  ifak  Society  of  ArcoeOy  in  the 
AiHht;ht  vfAumtn  of  whose  traxisactions  sereral  me^ 
rriz/i/n  of  hw  arr;  to  be  found.     He  was  the  anthor 
Ukt:wwz  of  two  ii^;f>arate  works,  comprising  each  two 
tff tinvo  voliirni;if.     Theiic  were  his  Elements  of  tkum 
Art  of  I)yf:iri{(,  first  published  in  1791,  in  a  single 
volnrrii;:  but  tin;  new  and  enlarged  edition  of  181^ 
was  in  two  volumes;  and  his  Essay  on  ChemicaL 
HtiiticM,  published  alxiut  the  beginning  of  the  pie-^ 
Mtrit  r^'iitury.     1  shall   notice  his  most  important^ 
pu|i«'rN. 

His  I'iirliiir  memoirs  on  sulphurous  acid,  on  vola-' 
till*  iilkiili,  and  on  the  decomposition  of  nitre,  wer» 
iMir.iiMibered  l>y  the  uhlogistic  theory,  which  at  that 
iiuuf  lui  defended  witli  great  zeal,  though  he  after* 


PROGRESS   OF  CHBMISTRY   IN    FRANCE.       153 

wards  retracted  these  his  first  opinions  upon  all 
these  subjects.  Except  his  paper  on  soaps,  in  which 
be  shows  that  they  are  chemical  compounds  of  an 
oil  (acting  the  part  of  an  acid)  and  an  alkaline 
base,  and  his  proof  that  phosphoric  acid  exists  ready 
formed  in  the  body  (a  fact  long  before  demonstrated 
l>y  Grahn  and  Scheele),  his  papers  published  before 
be  became  an  antiphlogistian  are  of  inferior  merit. 

In  1785  he  demonstrated  the  nature  and  propor- 
tion of  the  constituents  of  ammonia,  or  volatile, 
alkali.  This  substance  had  been  collected  in  the 
gaseous  form  by  the  indefatigable  Priestley,  who- 
had  shown  also  that  when  electric  sparks  are  made 
to  pass  for  some  time  through  a  given  volume  of 
this  gas,  its  bulk  is  nearly  doubled.  BerthoUet 
merely  repeated  this  experiment  of  Priestley,  and 
analyzed  the  new  gases  evolved  by  the  action  of 
electricity.  This  gas  he  found  a  mixture  of  three 
Tolumes  hydrogen  Rnd  one  volume  azotic  gas: 
hence  it  was  evident  that  ammoniacal  gas  is  a 
compound  of  three  volumes  of  hydrogen  and  one 
volume  of  azotic  gas  united  together,  and  condensed 
into  two  volumes.  The  same  discovery  was  made 
about  the  same  time  by  Dr.  Austin,  and  published 
in  the  Philosophical  Transactions.  Both  sets  of 
experiments  were  made  without  any  knowledge  of 
what  was  done  by  the  other :  but  it  is  admitted, 
on  all  hands,  that  BerthoUet  had  the  priority  in 
point  of  time. 

It  was  about  this  time,  likewise,  that  he  pub- 
lished his  first  paper  on  chlorine.  He  observed, 
that  when  water,  impregnated  with  chlorine,  is 
exposed  to  the  light  of  the  sun,  the  water  loses  its 
colour,  while,  at  the  same  time,  a  quantity  of  oxygen 
gas  is  given  out.  If  we  now  examine  the  water,  we 
find  that  it  contains  no  chlorine,  but  merely  a  little 
muriatic  acid.     This  fact,  which  is  undoubted,  led 


154 


inSTOET  or  CHEMreTRT. 


I 


him  to  conclade  that  chlorine  is  decomposed  by  the 
action  of  solar  light,  and  that  its  two  elements  are 
muriatic  acid  and  oxygen.  This  led  to  the  notion 
that  the  basb  of  muriatic  acid  is  capable  of  com- 
bining with  various  doses  of  oxygen,  and  of  form- 
ing rarious  acids,  one  of  which  is  chlorine :  on  that 
account  it  was  called  oxygenized  muriah'c  acid  by 
the  French  chemists,  nhich  unwieldy  appellation 
was  af^rwards  shortened  by  Kirwan  into  oxymu' 
fiatic  add. 

Bertholiet  obsened  that  when  a  current  of  chlo- 
rine gas  is  passed  through  a  solution  of  carbonate  of 
potash  an  eSerrescence  takes  place  owing  to  tba 
disengagement  of  carbonic  acid  gas.  By-and-by 
crystals  are  deposited  in  fine  silky  scales,  which 
possess  the  property  of  detonating  with  combustible 
bodies  sllU  more  violently  than  saltpetre.  Bertholiet 
examined  these  crystals  and  showed  that  they  were 
compounds  of  potash  with  an  acid  containing' moch 
more  oxygen  than  oxymuriattc  acid.  He  considered 
its  basis  as  muriatic  acid,  and  distinguished  it  by 
the  name  of  hyper-oxymuriatic  acid. 

It  was  not  till  the  year  1810,  that  the  inaccuracy 
of  these  opinions  was  established.  Gay-Lussac  and 
Thenard  attempted  in  vain  to  extract  oxygen  from 
chlorine.  They  showed  that  not  a  trace  of  that 
principle  could  be  detected.  Next  year  Davy  to<dt 
up  the  subject  and  concluded  from  his  experiments 
that  chlorine  is  a  simple  substance,  that  muriatic 
acid  is  a  compound  of  chlorine  and  hydrogen,  and 
hyper-oxymuriatic  acid  of  chlorine  and  oxygen. 
Gay-Lussac  obtained  this  acid  in  a  separate  state, 
and  gave  it  the  name  of  cfc/oric  acid,  by  which  it  is 
now  known. 

Scheele,  in  his  original  experiments  on  chlorine, 
had  noticed  the  property  which  it  has  of  destroying 
vegetable  colours.      Bertholiet  examined  this  pro- 


!    CHEMISTEY   IN   rilANCE.       155 

petty  with  care,  and  found  it  so  remarkable  that  he 
proposed  it  as  a  substitute  for  exposure  to  the  sun 
in  bleaching.  This  suggestion  alone  would  have 
immortalized  Berthollet  had  he  done  nothing  else ; 
since  its  effect  upon  some  of  the  moat  important  of 
the  manufactures  of  Great  Britain  has  been  scarcely 
inferior  to  that  of  the  steam-engine  itself.  Mr.  Watt 
happened  to  be  in  Paris  when  the  idea  suggested 
itself  to  Berthollet.  He  not  only  communicated 
it  to  Mr.  Watt,  but  showed  him  the  process  in  all 
its  simplicity.  It  consisted  in  nothing  else  than  in 
steeping  the  cloth  to  be  bleached  in  water  impreg- 
nated with  chlorine  gas,  Mr.  Watt,  on  his  return 
to  Great  Britain,  prepared  a  quantity  of  this  liquor, 
and  sent  it  to  his  father-in-law,  Mr,  Macgregor, 
who  was  a  bleacher  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Glas- 
gow. He  employed  it  successfully,  and  thus  was 
the  first  individual  who  tried  the  new  process  of 
bleaching  in  Great  Britain.  For  a  number  of  years 
the  bleachers  in  Lancashire  and  the  neighbourhood 
of  Glasgow  were  occupied  in  bringing  the  process  to 
perfection.  The  disagreeable  smell  of  the  chlorine 
was  a  a  great  annoyance.  This  was  attempted  to 
be  got  rid  of  by  dissolving  potash  in  the  water  to  be 
impregnated  with  chlorine  ;  but  it  was  found  to 
injure  considerably  the  bleaching  powers  of  the 
gas.  The  next  method  tried  was  to  mis  the  water 
with  quicklime,  and  then  to  pass  a  current  of 
chlorine  through  it.  The  quicklime  was  dissolved, 
and  the  liquor  thus  constituted  was  found  to  answer 
very  well.  The  last  improvement  was  to  combine 
the  chlorine  with  dry  lime.  At  first  two  atoms  of 
lime  were  united  to  one  atom  of  chlorine ;  but  of 
late  years  it  is  a  compound  of  one  atom  of  lime, 
and  one  of  chlorine.  This  chloride  is  simply  dissolved 
in  water,  and  the  cloth  to  be  bleached  is  steeped  in 
it.  For  all  these  improvements,  which  have  brought 
the  method  of  bleaching  by  means  of  chlorine  to 


I 


156  HISTORY  OF  Chemistry. 

great  simplicity  and  perfection,  the  bleachers  are 
indebted  to  Knox,  TeDnant,  and  Mackintosh,  of 
Glasgow ;  by  whose  indefatigable  exertions  the 
mode  of  manufacturing  chloride  of  lime  has  been 
brought  to  a  stute  of  perfection. 

Berthollet'a  experiments  on  prussic  acid  and  the 
prussiates  deserve  also  to  he  mentioned,  as  having  a 
tendency  to  rectify  some  of  the  ideas  at  that  time 
entertained  by  chemists,  and  to  advance  their  know- 
ledge of  one  of  the  most  difficult  departments  of 
chemical  investigation.  In  consequence  of  his  ex- 
periments on  the  nature  and  constituents  of  sul- 
phuretted hydrogen,  he  had  already  concluded  that 
It  was  an  acid,  aiid  that  it  was  destitute  of  oxygen : 
this  had  induced  him  to  refuse  his  assent  to  the 
hypothesis  of  Lavoisier,  that  oxygen  is  the  acidifying 
principle.  Scheele,  in  his  celebrated  experiments- 
on  prussic  ac!d,  had  succeeded  in  ascertaining  that 
its  constituents  were  carbon  and  azote  ;  but  be  had 
not  been  able  to  make  a  rigid  analysis  of  that  acid, 
and  consequently  to  demonstrate  that  oxygen  did 
not  enter  into  it  as  a  constituent.  Berthollet  took 
up  the  subject,  and  though  his  analysis  was  also  in- 
complete, he  satished  himself,  and  rendered  it  ex- 
ceedingly probable,  that  the  only  constituents  of 
this  acid  were,  carbon,  azote,  and  hydrogen,  and 
that  oxygen  did  not  enter  into  it  as  a  constituent. 
This  was  another  reason  for  rejecting  the  notion  of 
oxygen  as  an  acidifying  principle.  Here  were  two 
acids  capable  of  neutralizing  bases,  namely,  sul- 
phuretted hydrogen  and  prussic  acid,  and  yet  nei- 
ther of  them  contained  oxygen.  He  found  that  when 
prussic  acid  was  treated  with  chlorine,  its  properties 
were  altered ;  it  acquired  a  difTerent  smell  and  taste, 
and  no  longer  precipitated  iron  blue,  but  green. 
From  his  opinion  respecting  the  nature  of  chlorine, 
that  it  was  a  compound  of  muriatic  acid  and  oxygen, 
he  naturally  concluded  that  by  this  process  he  had 


PROGRESS   Oy  CneMISTRY  IN  TRANCE. 

formed  a  new  pruaaic  acid  by  ailding  oxygen  to  the 
old  cODStituents.  He  tlierel'ore  called  this  new  sub- 
stance oxyprussic  acid.  It  has  been  proved  by 
the  more  recent  experiments  of  Gay-Lussac,  that 
the  new  acid  of  Berthollet  is  a  compound  of  cyano- 
gen (the  prussic  acid  deprived  of  hydrogen)  and 
chlorine :  it  is  now  called  chlm-o-cyanic  acid,  and 
is  known  to  possess  the  characters  assigried  it  by 
Berthollet :  it  constitutes,  therefore,  a  new  example 
of  an  acid  destitute  of  oxygen.  Berthollet  was  the 
first  person  who  obtained  prussiate  of  potash  in  regu- 
lar crystals ;  the  salt  was  known  long  before,  but 
had  been  always  used  in  a  state  of  solution, 

Berthollet's  discovery  of  fidmlnating  silver,  and 
bis  method  of  obtaining  pure  hydrated  potash  and 
8oda,  by  means  of  alcohol,  deserve  to  be  mentioned. 
This  last  process  was  of  considerable  importance  to 
analytical  chemistry.  Beforehe  published  his  process, 
these  substances  in  a  state  of  purity  were  not  known. 

I  think  it  unnecessary  to  enter  into  any  details 
respecting  his  experimentson  sulphuretted  hydrogen, 
and  the  hydrosulphurets  and  sulphurets.  They 
contributed  essentially  to  elucidate  that  obscure 
part  of  chemistry-  But  his  success  was  not  perfect; 
DOr  did  we  understand  completely  the  nature  of 
these  compounds,  till  the  nature  of  the  alkaline 
bases  had  been  explained  by  the  discoveries  of  Davy. 

The  only  other  work  of  Berthollet,  which  I  think 
it  necessary  to  notice  here,  is  his  book  entitled  "  Che- 
mical Statics,"  which  he  published  in  1803.  He 
had  previously  drawn  up  some  interesting  papers  on 
the  subject,  which  were  published  in  the  Memoirs 
of  the  Institute.  Though  chemical  affinity  consti- 
tutes confessedly  the  basis  of  the  science,  it  had  been 
almost  completely  overlooked  by  Lavoisier,  who  had 
done  nothing  more  on  the  subject  than  drawn  up 
some  tables  of  affinity,  founded  on  very  imperfect 
data.     Morveau  had  attempted  a  more  profound  in- 


I 


vestigation  of  the  subject  in  the  article  Affiniti, 
inserted  in  the  chemical  part  of  the  Encyclopedie 
Metbodique.  His  obj  eel  was,  in  imiutioa  of  BuBbn, 
who  had  preceded  him  in  the  Bame  iDreetigatioD, 
to  prove  that  chemical  affinity  is  merely  a  case  of 
the  attractioa  of  gravitation.  But  it  is  beyond  our 
reach,  in  the  present  state  of  our  knowledge,  to  de- 
termine the  amount  of  attraction  which  dke  atoms 
of  bodies  exert  with  respect  to  each  other.  This 
was  seen  by  Newton,  and  also  by  Bergman,  who 
satisfied  themselves  with  considering  it  as  an  attrac- 
tion, without  attempting  to  determine  its  amount; 
though  Newton,  with  his  usual  sagacity,  was  in- 
clined, from  the  phenomena  of  light,  to  conuderthe 
attraction  of  affinity  as  much  stronger  than  that  of 
gravitation,  or  at  least  as  increasiog  much  more 
rapidly,  as  the  distances  between  the  attracting  par- 
ticles diminished. 

Bergman,  who  had  paid  great  attention  to  the 
subject,  considered  affinity  as  a  certain  determinate 
attraction,  which  the  atoms  of  different  bodies  ex- 
erted towards  each  other.  This  attraction  varies  in 
intensity  between  every  two  bodies,  though  it  is 
constant  between  each  pair.  The  consequence  is, 
that  these  intensities  may  be  denoted  by  numb^s. 
Thus,  suppose  a  body  m,  and  the  atoms  of  six  other 
bodies,  a,  b,  c,  d,  e,  /",  to  have  an  affinity  for  tm,  the 
forces  by  which  they  are  attracted  towards  each 
other  may  be  represented  by  the  numbers  x,  x+ 1, 
x-l-2,  x-{-3,  x+4,  x-t-5.  And  the  attractions  may 
be  represented  thus : 
Attraction  between  m&a  =  x 

m&  b  =  %+\ 

m&  c  =  x+2 

tit  Se  d  =  x-\-3 

mSie  -  x+4 

m&/=5+5 
Suppose  we  have  the  compound  m  a,  if  we  present  b. 


PROOREBB  or  CHXMI9TKT  tX    FRAlfCE.       159 

H  will  unite  with  m  and  displace  a,  because  the 
attraction  between  m  and  a  is  only  x,  while  that 
between  m  &  b  is  x+1 :  c  will  displace  b  ;  d  will 
displace  c,  and  ao  on,  for  the  same  reason.  On  this 
account  Bergman  considered  affinity  as  an  elective 
Utlraction,  and  iik  his  opinion  the  intensity  may  al- 
irays  be  estimated  by  decomposition.  That  substance 
which  displaces  another  from  a  third,  has  a  greater 
affinity  than  the  body  which  is  displaced.  If  i  dis- 
place a  from  the  compound  a  m,  then  b  has  a  g;reater 
affinity  for  m  than  a  has. 

The  object  of  Berthollet  in  his  Chemical  Statics, 
was  to  combat  this  opinion  of  Bergman,  which  had 
leen  embraced  without  examination  by  chemists  in 
general.  If  affinity  be  an  attraction,  Berthollet 
considered  it  as  evident  that  it  never  could  occasion 
decomposition.  Suppose  a  to  have  an  affinity  for 
m,  and  b  to  have  an  affinity  for  the  same  substances. 
Let  the  affinity  between  b  and  m  be  greater  than  that 
between  a  m.  Let  b  be  mixed  with  a  solution  of  the 
cximpound  a  in,theu  in  that  case  &  would  unite  with 
a  m,  and  form  the  triple  compound  a  m  b.  Both 
a  and  b  would  at  once  unite  with  jti.  No  reason 
can  be  assigned  why  a  should  separate  from  m, 
and  b  take  its  place.  Berthollet  admitted  that  in 
/act  such  decompositions  often  happened  ;  but  he 
accounted  for  them  from  other  causes,  and  not 
firom  the  superior  affinity  of  one  body  over  another. 
Suppose  we  have  u  solution  of  sulphate  of  soda  in 
water.  Tliis  salt  is  a  compound  of  sulphuric  acid 
and  soda  ;  two  substances  between  which  a  strong 
affinity  subsists,  and  which  therefore  always  unites 
whenever  they  come  in  contact.  Suppose  we  have 
dissolved  in  another  portion  of  water,  a  quantity  of 
barytes,  just  sufficient  to  saturate  the  sulphuric  acid 
'a  the  sulphate  of  soda.  If  we  mix  these  two  so- 
lutions together.    The  barytes  will  combine  with 


160  BISToar  OS   CHEUUTBr. 

the  sulphuric  acid  and  the  compound  (sulphate  of 
bari/tes)  will  fall  to  the  bottom,  leaving  a  pure  so- 
lution of  soda  in  the  water.  In  this  case  the 
barytes  has  seized  all  the  sulphuric  acid,  and  di»- 
placed  the  soda.  The  reason  of  this,  according  to 
BetlhoUet,  is  not  that  barytes  has  a  stronger  aEOinity 
for  sulphuric  acid  than  soda  has ;  but  because  sul- 
phate of  barytes  is  insoluble  in  water.  It  therefore 
falls  down,  and  of  course  the  sulphuric  acid  is  with' 
drawn  from  the  soda.  But  if  we  add  to  a  solution 
of  sulphate  of  soda  as  much  potash  as  will  saturate 
all  the  sulphuric  acid,  no  such  decomposition  will 
take  place ;  at  least,  we  have  no  evidence  that  it 
does.  Both  the  alkalies,  in  this  case,  will  unite  to 
the  acid  and  form  a  triple  compound,  consisting  of 
potash,  sulphuric  acid,  and  soda.  Let  us  now  con- 
centrate the  solution  by  evaporation,  and  crystals  of 
sulphate  of  potash  will  fall  down.  The  reason  is, 
that  sulphate  of  potash  is  not  nearly  so  soluble  in 
water  as  sulphate  of  soda.  Hence  it  separates ;  not 
because  sulphuric  acid  has  a  greater  affinity  for 
potash  than  for  soda,  but  because  sulphate  of  potash 
is  a  much  less  soluble  salt  than  sulphate  of  soda. 

This  mode  of  reasoning  of  Berthollet  is  plausible, 
but  not  convincing :  it  is  merely  an  argumentutu 
ad  ignorantiam.  We  can  only  prove  the  decom- 
position by  separating  the  salts  from  each  other, 
and  this  can  only  be  done  by  tlieir  difference  of 
solubility.  But  cases  occur  in  which  we  can  judge 
that  decomposition  has  taken  place  from  some  otber 
phenomena  than  precipitation-  For  example,  ni- 
trate of  copper  is  a  blue  salt,  while  muriate  of 
copper  is  green.  If  into  a  solution  of  nitrate  of 
copper  we  pour  muriatic  acid,  no  precipitation  ap- 
pears, but  the  colour  changes  from  blue  to  green. 
Is  not  this  an  evidence  that  the  muriatic  acid  has 
displaced  the  niti'ic,  and  that  the  salt  held  in  solu- 


PROGRESS  OF  CHEMISTRY   IK   FRANCS.      161 

tion  is  not  nitrate  of  copper,  as  it  was  at  first,  but 
muriate  of  copper  ? 

Berthollet  accounts  for  all  decompositions  which 
take  place  when  a  third  body  is  added,  either  by  in- 
solubility or  by  elasticity :  as,  for  example,  when  sul- 
{^uric  acid  is  poured  into  a  solution  of  carbonate  of 
ammonia,  the  carbonic  acid  all  flies  off,  in  conse- 
quence of  its  elasticity,  and  the  sulphuric  acid  com- 
bines with  the  ammonia  in  its  place.  I  confess  that 
this  explanation,  of  the  reason  why  the  carbonic  acid 
flies  off,  appears  to  me  very  defective.  The  am- 
monia and  carbonic  acid  are  united  by  a  force  quite 
sufficient  to  overcome  the  elasticity  of  the  carbonic 
acid.  Accordingly,  it  exhibits  no  tendency  to  escape. 
Now,  why  should  the  elasticity  of  the  acid  cause  it 
to  escape  when  sulphuric  acid  is  added  ?  It  cer- 
tainly could  not  do  so,  unless  it  has  weakened  the 
affinity  by  which  it  is  kept  united  to  the  ammonia. 
Now  this  is  the  very  point  for  which  Bergman  con- 
tends. The  subject  will  claim  our  attention  after- 
wards, when  we  come  to  the  electro-chemical  dis- 
coveries, which  distinguished  the  first  ten  years  of 
the  present  century. 

Another  opinion  supported  by  Berthollet  in  his 
Chemical  Statics  is,  that  quantity  may  be  made  to 
overcome  force ;  or,  in  other  words,  that  if  we  mix 
a  great  quantity  of  a  substance  which  has  a  weaker 
affinity  with  a  small  quantity  of  a  substance  which 
has  a  stronger  affinity,  the  body  having  the  weaker 
affinity  will  be  able  to  overcome  the  other,  and  com- 
bine with  a  third  body  in  place  of  it.  He  gave  a 
number  of  instances  of  this ;  particularly,  he  showed 
that  a  large  quantity  of  potash,  when  mixed  with  a 
small  quantity  of  sulphate  of  barytes,  is  able  to 
deprive  the  barytes  of  a  portion  of  its  sulphuric  acid. 
In  this  way  he  accounted  for  the  decomposition  of 
the  common  salt,  by  carbonate  of  lime  in  the  soda 

VOL.  II.  M 


162  HISTORY   OF   CHSXnmT. 

lakes  in  Egypt ;  and  the  decomposition  of  the  same 
salt  by  iron,  as  noticed  by  Scheele. 

I  must  acknowledge  myself  not  quite  satisfied 
with  Berthollet*s  reasoning  on  this  subject.  No 
doubt  if  two  atoms  of  a  body  having  a  weaker  affi- 
nity, and  one  atom  of  a  body  having  a  stronger 
affinity,  were  placed  at  equal  distances  from  an  atom 
of  a  third  body,  the  force  of  the  two  atoms  might 
overcome  that  of  the  one  atom.  And  it  is  possible 
that  such  cases  may  occasionally  occur :  but  soch 
a  balance  of  distances  must  be  rare  and  accidental. 
I  cannot  but  think  that  all  the  cases  adduced  by 
Berthollet  are  of  a  complicated  nature,  and  admit  of 
an  explanation  independent  of  the  efficacy  of  mass* 
And  at  any  rate,  abundance  of  instances  might  be 
stated,  in  which  mass  appears  to  have  no  prepon- 
derating effect  whatever.  Chemical  decomposition 
is  a  phenomenon  of  so  complicated  a  nature,  that  it 
is  more  than  doubtful  whether  we  are  yet  in  pos- 
session of  data  sufficient  to  enable  us  to  analyze  the 
process  with  accuracy. 

Another  opinion  brought  forward  by  Berthollet  iff 
/lis  work  was  of  a  startling  nature,  and  occasioned  a 
controversy  between  him  and  Proust  which  was 
carried  on  for  some  years  with  great  spirit,  but  with 
perfect  decorum  and  good  manners  on  both  sides. 
Berthollet  affirmed  that  bodies  were  capable  of 
uniting  with  each  other  in  all  possible  proportions, 
and  that  there  is  no  such  thing  as  a  definite  com- 
pound, unless  it  has  been  produced  by  some  acci- 
dental circumstances,  as  insolubility,  volatility,  &c. 
Thus  every  metal  is  capable  of  uniting  with  all 
possible  doses  of  oxygen.  So  that  instead  of  one 
or  two  oxides  of  every  metal,  an  infinite  number  of 
oxides  of  each  metal  exist.  Proust  affirmed  that 
all  compounds  are  defmite.  Iron,  says  he,  unites 
with  oxygen  only  in  two  proportions ;  we  have  either 


PROGRESS   OF   CHEMISTRY   IN   FRANCE.       163 

a  compound  of  3*5  iron  and  1  oxygen,  or  of  3'5  iron 
and  1'5  oxygen.  The  first  constitutes  the  black, 
and  the  second  the  red  oxide  of  iron ;  and  beside 
these  there  is  no  other.  Every  one  is  now  satisfied 
lliat  Proust's  view  of  the  subject  was  correct,  and 
Berthollet's  erroneous.  But  a  better  opportunity  will 
occur  hereafter  to  explain  this  subject,  or  at  least 
to  give  the  information  respecting  it  which  we  at 
present  possess. 

BerthoUet  in  this  book  points  out  the  quantity  of 
each,  base  necessary  to  neutralize  a  given  weight  of 
aeid,  and  he  considers  the  strength  of  affinity  as  in- 
versely that  quantity.  Now  of  all  the  bases  known 
when  BerthoUet  wrote,  ammonia  is  capable  of  sato- 
lating  the  greatest  quantity  of  acid.  Hence  he 
considered  its  affinity  for  acids  as  stronger  than  that 
of  any  other  base.  Barytes,  on  the  contrary,  sata- 
lates  the  smallest  quantity  of  acid;  therefore  its 
affinity  for  acids  is  smallest.  Now  ammonia  is  se- 
parated from  acids  by  all  the  other  bases;  while 
there  is  not  one  capable  of  separating  barytes.  It 
ia  surprising  tliat  the  notoriety  of  this  fact  did 
not  induce  him  to  hesitate,  before  he  came  to  so 
piroblematical  a  conclusion*  Mr.  Kirwan  had  al- 
leady  considered  the  force  of  affinity  as  directly 
proportional  to  the  quantity  of  base  necessary  to 
saturate  a  given  weight  of  acid.  When  we  consider 
the  subject  metaphysically,  Berthollet's  opinion  is 
most  plausible ;  fo.r  it  is  surely  natural  to  consider 
that  body  as  the  strongest  which  produces  the 
greatest  effect.  Now  when  we  deprive  an  acid  of 
its  ]m)perties,  or  neutralize  it  by  adding  a  base,  one 
vould  be  disposed  to  consider  that  base  as  acting 
'vrith  most  energy,  which  with  the  smallest  quantity 
of  matter  is  capable  of  producing  a  given  eff*ect« 
This  was  the  way  that  BerthoUet  reasoned.  But  if 
mie  attend  to  the  power  which  one  base  has  of  (Us* 

M  2 


'iut  S3C»:  but  wis  sr^r^^ssed  bv  ibe  kisKS  be- 
fB:«v»i  cu  1.  r~eui  :c  ^  wtto  had  vBadmedly 
^sax^nsi  Tzca  rritn  c«ir:li:a*  '»r»er.  and  wa*  created 
in  T-iaaecKTici*  '•rrjuiin  thpttt  b»T  die  andieoce. 
W:i:j*  TZii^rain  wnai  tgitl  to  toilo^.  the  advioe 
^  Vac.  d'Arrr  iadiiiiHi  him.  Ld  'rocnraeoce  die  sDidj 

T'la  £T*ar  iniirinist  w^is  an  aacqitamtange  of  M. 
i^  Tzirrrr/f,  ihe  ikibsr.  Sirack  widi  die  mppear- 
afZk^<=  ct  h»  foc.  asd  die  cionse  whh  whidi  be 
stn^Tdrd  virh  his  bad  fjrtnce.  he  conceiTed  as 
as»ccion  fcr  hfm.  aad  pfomis^d  to  direct  his  studieB, 
aattd  eren  to  zss'st  him  dannz  their  prosress.  The 
study  of  mediciiie  to  a  man  in  his  situation  was  bj 
DO  means  an  easy  task.  He  was  obliged  to  lodge 
in  a  earret,  so  low  in  the  roof  that  he  coold  only 
stand  Qprigfat  in  the  middle  of  the  room.  Beside  him 
lodsred  a  water-carrier  with  twelve  children.  Four- 
croy  acted  as  physician  to  this  numerous  family,  and 
in  recompence  was  always  supplied  with  abundance 
of  water.  He  contrived  to  support  himself  by  giving 
lessons  to  other  students,  by  facilitating  the  researchee 
of  richer  writers,  and  by  some  translations  which  he 
sold  to  a  bookseller.  For  these  he  was  only  half 
paid ;  but  the  conscientious  bookseller  offered  thirty 
years  afterwards  to  make  up  the  deficiency,  when 
nis  creditor  was  become  director-general  of  puUie 
instruction. 

Fourcroy  studied  with  so  much  zeal  and  ardour 
that  he  soon  became  well  acquainted  with  the  sub* 
ject  of  medicine.  But  this  was  not  sufficient.  It 
was  necessary  to  get  a  doctor's  degree,  and  all  the 
expenses  at  that  time  amounted  to  2501.  An  old 
physician,  Dr.  Diest,  had  left  funds  to  the  faculty 
to  give  a  gratuitous  degree  and  licence,  once  every 
two  years,  to  the  poor  student  who  should  best  dci> 
•erve  them.     Fourcroy  was  the  most  conspicuoai 


PROGRESS   OF   CHEMISTRY   IN    FRANCE.       167 

stadent  at  that  time  in  Paris.  He  would  therefore 
have  reaped  the  benefit  of  this  benevolent  institution 
had  it  not  been  for  the  unlucky  situation  in  which 
he  was  placed.  There  happened  to  exist  a  quarrel 
between  the  faculty  charged  with  the  education  of 
medical  men  and  the  granting  of  degrees,  and  a 
society  recently  formed  by  government  for  the  im- 
TOOvement  of  the  medical  art.  This  dispute  had 
Deen  carried  to  a  great  length,  and  had  attracted 
the  attention  of  all  the  frivolous  and  idle  inhabitants 
of  Paris.  Viq.  d*Azyr  was  secretary  to  the  society, 
and  of  course  one  of  its  most  active  champions ;  and 
was,  in  consequence,  particularly  obnoxious  to  the 
faculty  of  medicine  at  Paris.  Fourcroy  was  un- 
luckily the  acknowledged  protegee  of  this  eminent 
anatomist.  This  was  sufficient  to  induce  the  faculty 
of  medicine  to  refuse  him  a  gratuitous  degree.  He 
would  have  been  excluded  in  consequence  of  this 
from  entering  on  the  career  of  a  practitioner,  had 
not  the  society,  enraged  at  this  treatment,  and  in- 
fluenced by  a  violent  party  spirit,  formed  a  sub-> 
icription,  and  contributed  the  necessary  expenses. 

It  was  no  longer  possible  to  refuse  M.  de  Four- 
croy the  degree  of  doctor,  when  he  was  thus  ena- 
bled to  pay  for  it.  But  above  the  simple  degree  of 
doctor  there  was  another,  entitled  docteur  regent, 
which  depended  entirely  on  the  votes  of  the  faculty. 
It  was  unanimously  refused  to  M.  de  Fourcroy* 
This  refusal  put  it  out  of  his  power  afterwards  to 
commence  teacher  in  the  medical  school,  and  gave 
the  medical  faculty  the  melancholy  satisfaction  of 
not  being  able  to  enroll  among  their  number  the 
most  celebrated  professor  in  Paris.  This  violent 
and  unjust  conduct  of  the  faculty  of  medicine  made 
a  deep  impression  on  the  mind  of  Fourcroy,  and 
contributed  not  a  little  to  the  subsequent  downfal 
of  ihat  powerful  body. 


Fourcroy  being  thus  entitled  to  practise  ia  Paris, 
his  success  depended  entirely  on  tbe  reputation  which 
he  could  contrive  to  establish.  For  this  purpose  he 
devoted  himself  to  the  sciences  connected  with  me- 
dicine, as  the  shortest  and  most  certain  road  by 
which  he  could  reach  his  object.  His  first  writings 
showed  no  predilection  for  any  particular  branch 
of  science.  He  wrote  upon  chemistry,  anatomy, 
and  natural  history.  He  published  an  Abridg- 
ment of  the  History  of  Insects,  and  a  Descrip- 
tion of  the  Bursie  Mticosffi  of  the  Tendons.  This 
last  piece  seems  to  have  given  htm  the  greatest 
celebrity;  for  in  1785  he  was  admitted,  in  con- 
sequence of  it,  into  the  academy  as  an  anatomist. 
But  the  reputation  of  Bucqnet,  at  that  time  very 
high,  gradually  drew  his  particular  attention  to 
chemistry,  and  he  retained  this  predilection  during' 
the  rest  of  his  life. 

Bucquet  was  at  that  time  professor  of  chemistry 
in  the  Medical  School  of  Paris,  and  was  greatly 
celebrated  and  followed  on  account  of  his  eloquence, 
and  the  elegance  of  his  language.  Fourcroy  be- 
came in  the  first  place  his  pupil,  and  afterwards  - 
his  particular  friend.  One  day,  when  a  sudden 
attack  of  disease  prevented  him  from  lecturing  as 
usual,  lie  entreated  Fourcroy  to  supply  his  place. 
Our  young  chemist  at  first  declined,  and  alleged 
his  ignorance  of  the  method  of  addressing  a  public 
audience.  But,  overcome  by  the  persuasions  of 
Bucquet,  he  at  last  consented  :  and  in  this,  his  first 
essay,  he  spoke  two  hours  without  disorder  or  hesita- 
tion, and  acquitted  himself  to  the  satisfaction  of 
his  whole  audience.  Bucquet  soon  after  substituted 
him  in  his  place,  and  it  was  in  his  laboratory  and 
in  his  clas^-room  that  he  first  made  himself  ac- 

3uainted  with  chemistry.     He  was  enabled  at  the 
eath  of  Bucquet,  in    consequence  of  an  advan- 


PROGRESS  OF  CHEMISTRY   IN   FRANCE.       169 


« 


tageous  marriage  that  he  had  made,  to  purchase  the 
apparatus  and  cabinet  of  his  master ;  and  although 
the  faculty  of  medicine  would  not  allow  him  to  suc- 
ceed to  the  chair  of  Bucquet,  they  could  not  pre- 
vent him  from  succeeding  to  his  reputation. 

There  was  a  kind  of  college  which  had  been  esta- 
blished in  the  Jardin  du  Roi,  which  at  that  time  was 
under  the  superintendence  of  BuiFon,  and  Macquer 
was  the  professor  of  chemistry  in  this  institution. 
On  the  death  of  this  chemist,  in  1784,  both  Ber- 
thollet  and  Fourcroy  offered  themselves  as  candi- 
dates for  the  vacant  chair.  The  voice  of  the  public 
was  so  loud  in  favour  of  Fourcroy,  that  he  was  ap- 
pointed to  the  situation  in  spite  of  the  high  charac- 
ter of  his  antagonist  and  the  political  influence 
which  was  exerted  in  his  favour.  He  filled  this  chair 
for  twenty-five  years,  with  a  reputation  for  eloquence 
continually  on  the  increase.  Such  were  the  crowds, 
both  of  men  and  women,  who  flocked  to  hear  him, 
that  it  was  twice  necessary  to  enlarge  the  size  of  the 
lecture  room. 

After  the  revolution  had  made  some  progress,  he 
was  named  a  member  of  the  National  Convention  in 
the  autumn  of  the  memorable  year  1793.  It  was 
during  the  reign  of  terror,  when  the  Convention  it- 
self, and  with  it  all  France,  was  under  the  absolute 
dominion  of  one  of  the  most  sanguinary  monsters 
that  ever  existed :  it  was  almost  equally  dangerous 
for  the  members  of  the  Convention  to  remain  silent, 
or  to  take  an  active  part  in  the  business  of  that  assem- 
bly. Fourcroy  never  opened  his  mouth  in  the  Con- 
vention till  after  the  death  of  Robespierre ;  at  this 
-period  he  had  influence  enough  to  save  the  lives  of 
some  men  of  merit :  among  others,  of  Darcet,  who 
did  not  know  the  obligation  under  which  he  lay  to 
bim  till  long  after ;  at  last  his  own  life  was  threat- 
ened, and  his  influence,  of  course,  completely  anni- 
bilated. 


I 


170  STSFOKT  m  (sxanvrar. 

It  was  duriag  this  unfortunate  and  disgraceful 
period,  that  many  eminent  men  lost  their  lives; 
among  others,  Lavoisier;  and  Fourcroy  is  accused 
of  having  contributed  to  the  death  of  this  illuslrioas 
chemist:  but  CuTier  entirely  acquits  him  of  this 
atrocious  charge,  and  assures  us  that  it  was  urged 
against  hira  merely  out  of  envy  at  his  subsequent  ele- 
TBtion.  "  If  in  the  rigorous  researches  which  we  have 
made,"  says  Guvier  in  his  Eloge  of  Fourcroy,  "  we 
had  found  the  smallest  proof  of  an  atrocity  so  horri- 
ble, no  human  power  could  have  induced  us  to  sully 
our  mouths  with  his  Eloge,  or  to  have  pronounced  it 
within  the  wails  of  this  temple,  which  ought  to  be  no 
less  sacred  to  honour  than  to  genius." 

Fourcroy  began  to  acquire  influence  only  after 
the  9th  Thermidor,  when  the  nation  was  wearied 
with  destruction,  and  when  efforts  were  makiug  to 
restore  those  monuments  of  science,  and  those  pub* 
lie  institutions  for  education,  which  during  the  wan- 
tonness and  folly  of  the  revolution  had  been  over- 
turned and  destroyed.  Fourcroy  was  particularly 
active  in  this  renovation,  and  it  was  to  him,  chiefly, 
that  the  schools  established  in  France  for  the  educa- 
tion of  youth  are  to  be  ascribed.  The  Conventioii 
bad  destroyed  all  the  colleges,  universities,  and 
academies  throughout  Fi-ance.  l^e  effects  of  this 
absurd  abolition  soon  became  visible ;  the  amy 
stood  in  need  of  surgeons  and  physicians,  and  there 
were  none  educated  to  supply  the  vacant  places: 
three  new  schools  were  founded  for  educating  medi- 
cal men ;  they  were  nobly  endowed.  The  tenn 
ac/iooh  of  medicine  was  proscribed  as  too  aristo- 
cratieal ;  they  were  distinguished  by  the  ridiculous 
appellation  of  schools  of  health.  The  Polytechnic 
School  was  next  instituted,  as  a  kind  of  preparation 
for  the  exercise  of  the  military  profession,  where 
youT^  men  could  be  instructed  in  mathematics  and 
natural  philosophy,  to  make  them  fit  for  entering 


PROGRESS   OF  ^HEMHrTRY   IK   FRANCE.        17l 

the  schools  of  the  artillery,  of  engineers,  and  of  the 
marine.  The  Central  Schools  was  another  institu- 
tion for  which  France  was  indebted  to  the  efforts  of 
Fourcroy.  The  idea  was  good,  though  it  was  very 
fanperfectly  executed.  It  was  to  establish  a  kind  of 
university  in  every  department,  for  which  the  young 
men  were  to  be  prepared  by  a  sufficient  number  of 
inferior  schools  scattered  through  the  department. 
But  unfortunately  these  inferior  schools  were  never 
properly  established  or  endowed;  and  even  the 
central  schools  themselves  were  never  supplied  with 
[»roper  masters.  Indeed,  it  was  found  impossible 
to  furnish  such  a  number  of  masters  at  once.  On 
tiiat  account,  an  institution  was  established  in 
Paris,  called  the  Normal  School,  for  the  express 
purpose  of  educating  a  sufficient  number  of  mastenei 
to  supply  the  different  central  schools. 

JFourcroy,  either  as  a  member  of  the  Convention 
or  of  the  Council  of  the  Ancients ,  took  an  active 
part  in  all  these  institutions,  as  far  as  regarded  the 
{^an  and  the  establishment.  He  was  equally  con- 
cerned in  the  establishment  of  the  Institute  and  of 
the  Mus^e  d'Histoire  Naturelle.  This  last  was 
endowed  with  the  utmost  liberality,  and  Fourcroy 
was  one  of  the  £rst  professors ;  as  he  was  also  in  tiie 
Sdiool  of  Medicine  and  the  Polytechnic  School.  He 
was  equally  concerned  in  the  restoration  of  the 
miversity,  which  constituted  one  of  the  most  useM 
parts  of  Bonaparte's  reign. 

The  violent  exertions  which  he  made  in  the  nu- 
merous situations  which  he  iilled,  and  the  prodi- 
gious activity  which  he  displayed,  gradually  under- 
mmed  his  constitution.  He  himself  was  sensible  of 
his  approaching  death,  and  announced  it  to  his 
friends  as  an  event  which  would  speedily  take 
place.  On  the  IGth  of  December,  I6Q9,  after  sign- 
ing vonue  despatdies,  he  suddenly  cried  out,  Je 


» 


m  BISTORT   OF  CHEXin-RT. 

ntfi  wurt  (I  am  dead),  and  dropped  lifeless 
ground. 

He  was  twice  married :  G»C  to  Mademoiselle 
Betlinger,  by  whom  he  had  tiro  children,  a  son  and 
a  daugliter.  vhn  survived  him.  He  was  married  for 
the  second  time  to  iMadame  Belleville,  the  widoir 
of  V'ailly,  by  whom  he  had  no  family.  He  left  but 
little  fortune  behind  him ;  and  two  maiden  sistera, 
vho  lived  with  him,  depended  afterwards  for  theic 
support  on  his  friend  M.  Vauquelin. 

Notwithstanding  the  vast  quantity  of  papers  which 
he  published,  it  will  be  admitted,  without  dispute, 
that  the  prodip:ious  reputation  which  he  enjoyed 
during  his  lifetime  was  more  owing  to  bis  eloquen<» 
than  to  bis  eminence  as  a  chemist — though  even  u 
a  chemist  he  was  far  above  mediocrity.  He  muit 
have  possessed  an  uncommon  facility  of  wrttia^. 
Five  successive  editions  of  his  System  of  Cbemisti; 
appeared,  each  of  them  gradually  increasing  in  siae 
and  value :  the  first  being  in  two  volumes  and  th« 
last  in  ten.  This  last  editiou  he  wrote  in  sixteea 
months :  it  contains  much  valuable  information,  and 
doubtless  contributed  considerably  to  the  general 
diffusion  of  chemical  knowledge.  Its  style  is  perr 
haps  too  diSuse,  and  the  spirit  of  generalizing  frois 
particular,  and  often  ill-authenticated  facts,  is  car- 
ried to  a  vicious  length.  Perhaps  the  best  of  aQ 
his  productions  is  his  Philosophy  of  Chemistry.  It 
is  remarkable  for  its  conciseuESs,  its  perspicuity,  and 
the  neatness  of  its  arrangement. 

Besides  these  works,  and  the  periodical  pubHca* 
tion  entitled  "  Le  Medecin  eclaire,"  of  which  he  waa 
the  editor,  there  are  above  one  hundred  and  sixty 
papers  onchemical  subjects, with  his  name  attached  10 
them,  which  appeared  in  the  Memoirs  of  the  .Academy 
and  of  the  Institute;  intheAnnales  de  Chimie,orth« 
Annates  de  Musee  d'Histoire  Naturelle;  of  whicli 


PK0GRES3    OP   CHEMISTRY   1 

last  work  he  was  the  original  projector.  Many  of 
these  papers  contaitted  analyses  both  animal,  vege~ 
table,  and  mineral,  of  very  considerable  value.  In 
most  of  them,  the  name  of  Vauquelin  is  associated 
with  his  own  as  the  author ;  and  the  general  opinion 
is,  that  the  experiments  were  all  made  by  Vauque- 
lin ;  but  that  the  papers  themselves  were  drawn  up 
by  Fourcroj. 

It  would  serve  little  purpose  to  go  over  this  long 
list  of  papers ;  because,  though  they  contributed 
essentially  to  the  progress  of  chemistry,  yet  they 
exhibit  but  few  of  those  striking  discoveries,  which 
at  once  alter  the  face  of  the  i^cieuce,  by  throwing  a 
flood  of  light  on  every  thing  around  them.  1  shall 
merely  notice  a  few  of  what  I  consider  as  his  beat 
papers. 

1.  He  ascertained  that  the  most  common  biliary 
calculi  are  composed  of  a  substance  similar  to  sper- 
maceti. This  substance,  in  consequence  of  a  sub- 
sequent discovery  which  he  made  during  the  removal 
of  the  dead  bodies  from  the  burial-ground  of  the 
Innocents  at  Paris  ;  namely,  that  these  bodies  are 
converted  into  a  fatty  matter,  he  called  adipocire. 
It  has  since  been  distinguished  by  the  name  of  cho- 
lestine ;  and  has  been  shown  to  possess  properties 
different  from  those  of  adipocire  and  spermaceti. 

2,  It  is  to  him  that  we  are  indebted  for  the  first 
knowledge  of  the  fact,  that  the  salts  of  magnesia 
and  ammonia  have  the  property  of  uniting  together, 
and  forming  double  salts. 

3.  His  dissertation  on  the  sulphate  of  mercury 
contains  some  good  observations.  The  same  remark 
applies  lo  his  paper  on  the  action  of  ammonia  on 
the  sulphate,  nitrate,  and  muriate  of  mercury.  He 
first  described  the  double  salts  which  are  formed. 

4,  The  analysis  of  urine  would  have  been  valuable 
'~  i  not  almost  all  the  facts  contained  in  it  been 


174  BisTOBT  or  OHsiimav.  1 

anticipated  by  a  pnperof  Dr.  Wollaston,  published 
in  the  Philuaophical  Tnuisactions.  It  is  to  htm  dut 
we  are  iudebted  for  almost  ail  the  additions  to  our 
knowledge  of  calculi  since  the  publication  ofScheele's 
original  paper  oa  the  subject. 

5.  I  may  mention  the  process  of  Fourcroy  and 
Vauquelin  for  obtaining  pure  barytes,  by  exposal; 
nitrate  of  barytes  to  a  red  heat,  as  a  good  one.  Theji 
diseovered  the  existence  of  phosphate  of  magnesia  in 
bones,  of  phosphoma  in  the  brain  and  in  the  milts 
of  liahes,  and  of  a  considerable  quantity  of  saccha- 
rine matter  in  the  bulb  of  the  common  onion  ;  which, 
by  undergoing  a  kind  of  spontaneous  fermentation 
nas  converted  into  manna. 

In  these,  andmany  other  similar  discoveries.whidt 
I  think  it  unnecessary  to  notice,  we  do  not  know 
what  fell  to  the  share  of  Fourcroy  and  what  to 
Vauquelin;  but  there  is  one  merit  at  least  to  which 
Fourcroy  is  certainly  entitled,  and  it  is  no  small 
one :  he  formed  and  brought  forward  Vauqudin, 
and  proved  to  him,  ever  after,  a  most  steady  and 
indefatigable  friend.  This  Is  bestowing  no  small 
panegyric  on  his  character ;  for  it  would  have  been 
impossible  to  have  retained  such  a  friend  throu^ 
all  the  horrors  of  the  French  revolution,  if  his  own 
qualities  had  not  been  such  as  to  merit  so  steady  an 
attachment. 

Louis  Bernard  Guyton  de  Morveau  ivas  bom  al 
Dijon  on  the  4th  of  January,  1737.  Hia  father, 
Anthony  Guyton,  was  professor  of  civil  law  in  tha 
University  of  Dijon,  and  descended  from  an  ancient 
and  respectable  family.  At  the  age  of  seven  h« 
showed  an  uncommon  mechanical  turn  :  beingwith 
hia  father  at  a  small  village  near  Dijon,  he  there 
happened  to  meet  a  public  officer  returning  from  a 
sale,  whence  he  had  brought  back  a  clock  that  had 
lemained  unsold  on  account  of  its  very  bad  condi< 


PROGRESS  or  CHEMISTRY   IK    FRANCE.      175 

tion.  Moirean  supplicated  his  father  to  buy  it. 
The  purchase  was  mside  for  six  francs.  Youn^  Mor- 
▼eau  took  it  to  pieces  and  cleaned  it,  supplied  some 
parts  that  were  wanting,  and  put  it  up  again  with- 
out any  assistajQce.  In  1799  this  very  clock  was  re- 
sold at  a  higher  price,  together  with  the  estate  and 
house  in  which  it  had  been  originally  placed ;  having 
during  the  whole  of  that  time  continued  to  go  in  the 
most  ^tisfactory  manner.  When  only  eight  years 
of  stge,  he  took  his  mother's  watch  to  pieces,  cleaned 
it,  and  put  it  up  again  to  the  satbfaction  of  adl 
parties. 

After  finishing  his  preliminary  studies  in  his  father's 
bouse,  he  went  to  college,  and  terminated  his  at- 
tendance on  it  at  the  age  of  sixteen.  About  this 
time  he  was  instructed  in  botany  by  M.  Michault,  a 
friend  of  his  father,  and  a  naturalist  of  some  emi- 
nence. He  now  commenced  law  student  in  the 
University  of  Dijon ;  and,  after  three  years  of  in- 
tense application,  he  went  to  Paris  to  acquire  a 
knowledge  of  the  practice  of  the  law. 

While  in  Paris,  he  not  only  attended  to  law,  but 
cultivated  at  the  same  time   several  branches  of 
polite  literature.     In  1756  he  paid  a  visit  to  Vol- 
taire, at  Ferney.     This  seems  to  have  inspired  him 
with  a  love  of  poetry,  particularly  of  the  descriptive 
and  satiric  kind.  About  a  year  afterwards,  when  only 
twenty,  he  published  a  poem  called  '*  Le  Rat  Icono- 
olaste,  ou  le  Jesuite  croquee."     It  was  intended  to 
tiffow  ridicule  on  a  well-known  anecdote  of  the  day, 
and  to  assist  in  blowing  the  fire  that  already  threat- 
ened destruction  to  the  obnoxious  order  of  Jesuits. 
The  adventure  alluded  to  was  this:     Some  nuns, 
who  felt  a  strong  predilection  for  a  Jesuit,  their 
spiritual  director,  were  engs^ed  in  their  accustomed 
Christmas  occupation  of  modelling  a  representation 
'  a»  religious  mystery,  decorated  with  several  small 


178  HISTORY  OF  CflEinSTIlT. 

subject  of  a  prize,  by  the  academy.  A  few  months 
afterwards,  at  the  opening  of  the  session  of  parlia- 
ment, he  delivered  a  discourse  on  the  actual  state  of 
jurisprudence:  on  which  subject,  three  years  after,  he 
composed  a  more  extensive  and  complete  work.  No 
code  of  laws  demanded  reform  more  urgently  than 
those  of  France,  and  none  saw  more  clearly  the 
necessity  of  such  a  reformation. 

About  this  time  a  young  gentleman  of  Dijon  had 
talten  into  his  house  an  adept,  who  offered,  upon 
being  furnished  with  the  requisite  materials,  to  pro- 
duce gold  in  abundance;  but,  after  six  months  c^ 
expensive  and  tedious  operations  (during-  which  pe- 
riod the  roguish  pretender  had  secretly  distilled 
many  oils,  &c.,  which  he  disposed  of  for  his  own 
profit),  the  gentleman  beginning  to  doubt  the  sin- 
cerity of  his  instructer,  dismissed  him  from  liis  ser- 
vice and  sold  the  whole  of  his  apparatus  and  materials 
to  Morvean  for  a  trifling  sum. 

Soon  after  he  repaired  to  Paris,  to  visit  the 
scientific  establishments  of  that  metropolis,  and  to 
purchase  preparations  and  apparatus  which  he  still 
wanted  to  enable  him  to  pursue  with  effect  his  fa- 
vourite study.  For  this  purpose  he  applied  to 
Beaum^,  then  one  of  the  most  conspicuous  of  the 
French  chemists.  Pleased  with  his  ardour,  Beaume 
inquired  what  courses  of  chemistry  he  had  attended. 
"  None,"  was  the  answer. — "  How  then  could  you 
have  learned  to  make  experiments,  and  above  all, 
how  could  you  have  acquired  the  requisite  dex- 
terity?"—" Practice,"  replied  the  young  chemist, 
"  has  been  my  master;  melted  crucibles  and  broken 
retorts  my  tutors." — "  In  that  case,"  said  Beaume, 
"  you  have  not  learned,  you  have  invented." 

About  this  time  Dr.  Chardenon  read  a  paper  before 
the  Dijon  Academy  on  the  causes  of  the  augmenta- 
tion of  weight  which  metals  experience  when  ce\- 


PROGRESS   OF   CHEMISTR?   IN   FIIAKCE.       179 

jrinetl.  He  combated  tlie  different  explanations 
irfiich  had  been  already  advanced,  and  then  pro- 
ceeded to  show  that  it  might  be  accounted  for  in  a 
aatisfactory  manner  by  the  abstTaction  of  phlogiston. 
This  drew  the  attention  of  Morveau  to  the  subject : 
he  made  a  set  of  experiments  a  few  months  after- 
wards, and  read  a  paper  on  the  pketwmena  of  the 
air  during  combustion.  It  was  soon  after  that  he 
made  a  set  of  experiments  on  the  time  taken  by 
different  substances  to  absorb  or  emit  a  given  quan- 
tity of  heat.  These  experiments,  if  properly  fol- 
lowed out,  would  have  led  to  the  discovery  of  specific 
heat  i  but  in  his  hands  they  seem  to  have  been  un- 
productive. 

In  the  year  1772he  published  a  collection  of  scien- 
tific essays  under  the  title  of  "  Digressions  Acad^- 
miqiies."  The  memoirs  on  phlogiston,  crystallization, 
and  solution,  found  in  this  book  deserve  particular 
attention,  and  show  the  superiority  of  Morveau  over 
most  of  the  chemists  of  the  time. 

About  this  time  an  event  happened  which  deserves 
to  be  stated.     It  had  been  customary  in  one  of  the 
churches  of  Dijon  to  bury  considerable  numbers  of 
^^  dead  bodies.     From  these  an  infectious  exhalation 
^Mbad  proceeded,  which  had  brought  on  a  malignant 
^Bdisorder,  and  threatened  the  inhabitants  of  Dijon 
H^ivith  something  like  the  plague.     All  attempts  to  put 
^^  an  end  to  this  infectious  matter  had  failed,  when 
Morveau  tried  the  following  method  with  complete 
success  ;     A  mixture  of  common  salt  and  sulphuric 
acid  in  a  wide-mouthed  vessel  was  put  upon  chaf- 
ing-dishes in  various  parts  of  the  church.  The  doors 
and  windows  were  closed  and  left  in  this  state  for 
twenty-four  hours.     Tliey  were  then  thrown  open, 
and  the  chafing-dishes  with  the  mixtures  removed. 
*  Every  remains  of  the  bad  smell  was  gone,  and  the 
Lchurch  was  rendered  quite  clean  and  free  from  in- 
N  2 


180 


vnssVKY  nv  cnCKniHT. 


fection.  The  same  process  was  tried  soon  after  in 
the  prisons  of  Dijon,  and  with  the  same  succesB. 
Afterwards  chlorine  gaa  was  substituted  for  mviriatic 
acid  gas,  and  found  still  more  efficacious.  The  pre- 
sent practice  is  to  employ  chloride  of  lime,  or 
chloride  of  goda,  for  the  purpose  of  fumigating  in- 
fected apartments,  and  the  process  is  found  still 
more  effectual  than  the  muriatic  acid  gas,  as  origi- 
nally employed  by  Morveau.  The  nitric  acid  fumes, 
proposed  by  Dr.  Carmichael  Smith,  are  also  eSca- 
cious,  but  the  application  of  them  is  much  more 
troublesome  and  more  expensive  than  of  chloride  of 
lime,  which  costs  very  little. 

In  the  year  1774  it  occurred  to  Morveau,  that  a 
course  of  lectures  on  chemistry,  delivered  in  his  na- 
tive city,  might  be  useful.  Application  being  made 
to  the  proper  authorities,  the  permission  was  obtain* 
ed,  and  the  necessary  funds  for  supplying  a  labora- 
tory granted.  These  lectures  were  begun  on  the 
29th  of  April,  1776,  and  seem  to  have  been  of  the 
very  best  kind.  Every  thinj  was  staled  with  great 
clearness,  and  illustrated  by  a  sufficient  number  of 
experiments.  His  fame  now  began  to  extend,  and 
his  name  to  be  known  to  men  of  science  in  every 
part  of  Europe;  and,  in  consequence,  lie  began  to 
experience  the  fate  of  almost  all  eminent  men — to  be 
exposed  to  the  attacks  of  the  malignant  and  the 
envious.  The  experiments  which  he  exhibited  to 
determine  the  properties  of  carbaaic  acid  gas  drew 
upon  him  the  animadversions  of  several  medical  men, 
who  afhrmed  that  this  gas  was  nothing  else  than  a 
peculiar  state  of  sulphuric  acid.  Morveau  answered 
these  animadversions  in  two  pamphlets,  and  com- 
pletely refuted  them. 

About  this  time  he  got  metallic  conductors  erected 
on  the  house  of  the  Academy  at  Dijon,  On  this  ac- 
count he  was  attacked  violently  for  hie  pFCSiunptioii 


PR0GR£3ft  07  CHSXISTRT   UT  FRANCE..      IBl 

lA  dkarming  tke  hand  of  the  Suprane  Being.  A 
multitude  of  fanatics  assembled  to  pull  dowu  the 
ccmductofSy  and  they  would  probaUy  have  done 
mueh  mkchief,  had  it  not  been  for  the  address  of 
M.  Maret,  the  secretary^  who  assured  them  that  the 
astonishing  virtue  of  die  apparatus  resided  in  the 
gilded  point,  whidli  had  purposely  been  sent  frOm 
Rome  by  the  holy  father !  Will  it  excite  any  suf- 
prise,  tluit  within  less  than  twenty  years  after  this 
the  mass  of  the  French  people  not  only  renounced 
the  Christian  religion^  and  the  spiritual  dominion  of 
the  pope,  but  declared  themselves  atheists ! 

IjQ  1777  Morveau  published  the  first  volume  of  a 
course  of  chemistry,  which  was  afterwards  followed 
by  three  other  volumes,  and  is  known  by  the  name 
of  "  Elemens  de  Chimie  de  TAcademie  de  Dijon." 
Thaa  book  was  received  with  universal  approbation, 
and  must  have  contributed  very  much  to  increase 
the  value  of  his  lectures.  Indeed,  a  text-book  is 
essential  towards  a  successful  course  of  lectures :  it 
puts  it  in  the  power  of  the  students  to  understand 
the  lecture  if  they  be  at  the  requisite  pains ;  and 
gives  thm  a  means  of  clearing  up  their  difficuUies, 
wiien  any  such  occur.  I  do  not  hesitate  to  say,  that 
a  course  of  chemical  lectures  is  twice  as  valuable 
when  the  students  are  furnished  with  a  good  text- 
book, as  when  they  are  left  to  interpret  the  lec» 
twes  by  their  own  unassisted  exertions. 

Soon  after  he  undertook  the  establishment  of  a 
manufacture  of  saltpetre  upon  a  large  scale.  For 
this  he  received  the  thanks  of  M.  Necker,  who  was 
at  that  time  minister  of  finance,  in  the  name  of  the 
King  of  France.  This  manufactory  he  afterwards 
gave  up  to  M.  Courtois,  whose  son  still  carries  it  on, 
and  is  advantageously  known  to  the  public  as  the 
discoverer  of  iodine. 

His  next  object  was  to  make  a  collection  of  mine- 


1S3 


HISTORY  OF  CHemsTar. 


Is,  and  10  make  himself  acquainted  with  the  science 
of  mineralogy.  Al!  this  was  soon  accomplished. 
In  1777  he  was  charged  to  examine  the  slate-quar- 
ries and  the  coal-mines  of  Burgundy,  for  which  pur- 
pose he  performed  a  mineralogieal  tour  through  the 
province.  In  1779  he  discovered  a  lead-mine  in  that 
country,  and  a  few  years  afterwards,  when  the  atten- 
tion of  chemists  had  been  drawn  to  sulphate  of 
barytes  and  its  base,  by  the  Swedish  chemists,  he 
sought  for  it  in  Burgundy,  and  found  it  inconsi- 
derable quantity  at  Thote.  This  enabled  him  to 
draw  up  a  description  of  the  mineral,  and  to  deter- 
mine the  characters  of  the  base,  to  which  he  gave 
the  name  of  bitrote ;  afterwards  altered  to  that  of 
barytes.  This  paper  was  published  in  the  third 
volume  of  the  Memoirs  of  the  Dijon  Academy.  In 
this  paper  he  describes  his  melhod  of  decomposing 
sulphate  of  barytes,  by  heating  it  with  charcoal — a 
method  now  very  frequently  followed. 

In  the  year  1779  he  was  applied  to  by  Pankouke, 
who  meditated  the  great  project  of  the  Encyclopidie 
Methodique,  to  undertake  the  chemical  articles  in 
that  immense  dictionary,  and  the  demand  was  sup- 
ported by  a  letter  from  Buffon,  whose  request  he  did 
not  think  that  he  could  with  propriety  refuse.  The 
engagement  was  signed  between  them  in  September, 
1780.  The  lirst  half-volume  of  the  chemical  part 
of  this  Encyclopedic  did  not  appear  til!  1786,  and 
Morvean  must  have  been  employed  during  the  inter- 
val in  the  necessary  study  and  researches.  Indeed, 
it  is  obvious,  from  many  of  the  articles,  that  he  had 
spent  a  good  deal  of  time  jn  experiments  of  research. 
The  state  of  the  chemical  nomenclature  was  at 
that  period  peculiarly  barbarous  and  defective.  He 
found  himself  stopped  at  every  corner  for  want  of 
words  to  express  his  meaning.  This  state  of  things 
he  resolved  to  correct,  and  accordingly  in  1782  pub- 


PROGEES8  or  CHEMIgTRY  IV  FRAKCE.   183 

lished  bit  first  essay  on  a  new  chemical  nomencla- 
ture. No  sooner  did  this  essay  appear  than. it  was 
attacked  by  almost  all  the  chemists  of  Paris,  and 
by  none  more  zealously  than  by  the  chemical  mem- 
bers of  the  academy.  Undismayed  by  the  violence 
of  his  antagonists,  and  satisfied  with  the  rectitude  of 
his  views,  and  the  necessity  of  the  reform,  he  went 
directly  to  Paris  to  answer  the  objections  in  person. 
He  not  only  succeeded  in  convincing  his  antagonists 
of  the  necessity  of  reform  ;  but  a  few  years  after- 
wards prevailed  upon  the  most  eminent  chemical 
members  of  the  academy,  Lavoisier,  BerthoUet, 
and  Fourcroy,  to  unite  with  him  in  rendering  the  re- 
fbrm  still  more  complete  and  successful.  He  drew 
up  a  memoir,  exhibiting  a  plan  of  a  methodical  che- 
mical nomenclature,  which  was  read  at  a  meeting  of 
the  Academy  of  Sciences,  in  1787.  Morveau,  then, 
was  in  reality  the  author  of  the  new  chemical  nomen- 
clature, if.  we  except  a  few  terms,  which  had  been 
already  employed  by  Lavoisier.  Had  he  done  nothing 
more^  for  the  science  than  this,  it  would  deservedly 
have  immortalized  his  name.  For  every  one  must 
be  sensible  how  much  the  new  nomenclature  contri- 
buted to  the  subsequent  rapid  extension  of  chemical 
science. 

It  was  during  the  repeated  conferences  held  with 
Lavoisier  and  the  other  two  associates  that  Morveau 
became  satisfied  of  the  truth  of  Lavoisier's  new  doc- 
trine, and  that  he  was  induced  to  abandon  the  phlo- 
gistic theory.  We  do  not  know  the  methods  em- 
ployed to  convert  him.  Doubtless  both  reasoning 
Jlnd  experiment  were  made  use  of  for  the  purpose. 

It  was  during  this  period  that  Morveau  published 
a  French  translation  of  the  Opuscula  of  Bergman. 
A  society  of  friends,  under  his  encouragement,  trans- 
lated the  chemical  memoirs  of  Scheele  and  many 
dlher  foreign  books  of  importance,  which  by  their 


184  HUTOKT  am  cmmmsarmw. 


Tneani  were  made  known  to  the 
Fraace. 

in  1783,  in  consequenoeof  afnomableicpoitlpr 
Macr^uer,  Morveau  obtained  permiaioa  to  e^alilHii 
a  manufactory  of  carbonate  of  soda,  the  fint  of  the 
kind  ever  attempted  in  France.  It  was  dunn^tlie 
name  year  that  be  published  his  coUection  of  pfead- 
mpi  at  the  bar,  among  which  {we  find  his  Discovs 
sur  la  Bonhomie,  delivered  at  the  opening  of  the 
seHftioriK  at  Dijon,  with  which  he  took  leaTe  of  his 
fellow-mai^istrates,  surrendering  the  insignia  of 
office,  as  he  had  determined  to  quit  the  psofession  of 
the  law. 

On  the  25th  of  April,  1784,Morveaa,  accompanied 
by  PrGHJdent  Virly,  ascended  firom  Dijon  in  a  bal- 
loon, which  he  had  himself  constructed,  and  repeated 
the  us(!ent  on  the  12th  of  June  following,  widi  a 
view  of  aHcertaining  the  possibility  of  directing  these 
aerostatic  machines,  by  an  apparatus  of  bis  own 
contrivance.  The  capacity  oi  the  balloon  was 
10,498,074  French  cubic  feet.  The  effect  pro- 
duced by  this  bold  undertaking  by  two  of  the  most 
diHt.inp;iiiHhcd  characters  in  the  town  was  beyond  de- 
flcriptjon.  Such  ascents  were  then  quite  new,  and 
looked  upon  with  a  kind  of  reverential  awe.  Though 
Morveau  failed  in  his  attempts  to  direct  these  aerial 
vessels,  yet  his  method  was  ingenious  and  exceed* 
inf(ly  plaiiHible. 

In  i7H()  Dr.  Maret,  secretary  to  the  Dijon  Aca- 
demy, having  fallen  a  victim  to  an  epidemic  disease, 
whi(*.h  he  hud  in  vain  attempted  to  arrest,  Morveaa 
was  appointed  perpetual  secretary  and  chancellor  of' 
the  institution.  Soon  after  this  the  first  half-volume 
of  the  chemical  part  of  the  Encyclopedic  M^thodique- 
made  its  appearance,  and  drew  the  attention  of  everf 
])cr8oii  interested  in  the  science  of  chemistry.  No 
chemical  treatise  had  hitherto  appeared  worthy  of 


PROGRESt  QV  GHBM19TRY   TSf   FRANCE. 

being  compared  to  it*  The  article  Acidy  which  occu>» 
piefra  considerable  part,  is  truely  admirable;  and 
whether  we  consider  the  historical  details,  the  com.- 
pkteness  of  the  accounts,  the  accuracy  of  the  de- 
scription of  the  experiments,  or  the  elegance  of  the 
style,  constitutes  a  complete  model  of  what  such  a 
work  should  be.  I  may,  peihaps,  be  partial,  as  it  was 
fiom  this  book  that  I  imbibed  my  own  first  notions 
in  chemistry,  but  I  never  perused  any  book  with  more 
delight,  and  when  I  compared  it  with  the  best 
chemical  books  of  the  time,  whether  German, 
Eeench,  or  English,  its  superiority  became  still  more 
striking. 

In  the  article  Aciery  Morveau  had  come  to  the 
very  same  conclusions,  with  respect  to  the  nature  of 
steel,  as  had  been  come  to  by  BerthoUet,  Monge, 
and  Vandermonde,  in  their  celebrated  paper  on  the 
subject,  just  published  in  the  Memoirs  of  the  Aca- 
demy. His  own  article  had  been  printed,  thou^ 
not  published,  before  the  appearance  of  the  Memoir 
of  the  Academicians.  This  induced  him  to  send  aa 
explanation  to  BerthoUet,  which  was  speedily  pub- 
lished in  the  Journal  de  Physique. 

In  September,  1787,  he  receiyed  a  visit  from-La^ 
TCBsier,  BerthoUet,  Fourcroy,  Monge,  and  Vander- 
monde. Dr.  Beddoes,  who  was  travelling  through 
France  at  the  time,  and  happened  to  be  in  Dijon^ 
joined  the  party.  The  object  of  the  meeting  was  to 
discuss  several  experiments  explanatory  of  the  new 
doctrine.  In  1789  an  attempt  was  made  to  get 
him  admitted  as  a  member  of  the  Academy  of 
Sciences ;  but  it  failed,  notwithstanding  the  strenu- 
ous exertions  of  BerthoUet  and  his  other  chemical 
friends. 

The  French  revolution  had  now  broken  out,  oc- 
casioned by  the  wants  of  the  state  on  the  one  hand^ 
and  the  resolute  determination  of  the  clergy  and  the 


l86  HISTORY  op  CHEMISTRT. 

nobilily  on  the  otiier,  not  to  aiibmit  to  bear  any 
share  in  the  public  burdens.  Daring  the  early  part 
of  this  revolution  Morveau  took  do  part  whatever  in 
politics.  In  1790,  when  France  was  divided  into 
departments,  he  was  named  one  of  a  commission  by 
the  National  Assembly  for  the  formation  of  the  de- 
partment of  the  C6te  d'Or.  On  the  25th  of  August, 
1791,  he  received  from  the  Academy  of  Sciences 
tiie  annual  prize  of  2000  francs,  for  the  most  useful  ■ 
work  published  in  the  course  of  the  year.  This  was  ■ 
decreed  him  for  his  Dictionary  of  Chemistry,  in  the* 
Encyclopedic  Methodique.  Aware  of  the  press- 
ing necessities  of  the  state,  Morveau  seized  the'*' 
opportunity  of  showing  his  desire  of  contributing 
towards  its  relief,  by  making  a  patriotic  offering  of 
the  whale  amount  of  his  prize. 

When  the  election  of  the  second  Constitutional  ■ 
Assembly  took  place,  he  was  nominated  a  members 
by  the  electoral  college  of  his  department,  A  few'" 
months  before,  his  name  had  appeared  among  thei^ 
list  of  members  proposed  by  the  assembly,  for  thtf" 
election  of  a  governor  to  the  heir-apparent.  All  this, 
together  with  the  dignity  of  solicitor- general  of  thai 
department  to  which  he  had  recently  been  raised,  ■ 
not  permitting  him  to  continue  his  chemical  lecturetl 
at  Bijon,  of  which  he  had  already  delivered  fifteeal 
gratuitous  courses,  he  resigned  his  chair  in  favoun 
of  Dr.  Chaussier,  afterwards  ar  distinguished  pro^ 
fessor  at  the  Faculty  of  Medicine  of  Paris ;  and^ 
bidding  adieu  to  his  native  city,  proceeded  to  Pajis.^r 

On  the  ever  meraoriible  16th  of  January,  1793,« 
he  voted  with  the  majority  of  deputies.  He  wati>l 
therefore,  in  consequence  of  this  vote,  a  regicide.-' 
During  the  same  year  he  resigned,  in  favour  of  the. 
republic,  his  pension  of  two  thousand  francs,  toge- 
ther with  the  arrears  of  that  pension.  > 

In  1794  he  received  from  government  different^ 


PROGRESS  or  CHEMISTRY    IM    FRANCE.       187 

commissions  to  act  with  the  French  armies  in  the 
Low  Countries.  Charged  with  the  direction  of  a 
great  aerostatic  machine  for  warlike  purposes,  he 
superintended  that  one  in  which  the  chief  of  the 
staff  of  General  Jourdan  and  himself  ascended  during 
the  battle  of  Fleurus,  and  whi.  h  so  materially  con- 
tributed to  the  success  of  the  French  arms  on  that  day . 
On  his  return  from  his  various  missions,  he  received 
from  the  three  committees  of  the  executive  govern- 
ment an  invitation  to  co-operate  with  several  learned 
men  in  the  instruction  of  the  central  schoolsy  and 
was  named  professor  of  chemistry  at  the  Ecole  Cen- 
trale  des  Travaux  puhliques,  since  better  known 
under  the  name  of  the  Polytechnic  School, 

In  1795  he  was  re-elected  member  of  the  Council 
of  Five  Hundred,  by  the  electoral  assemblies  of 
Sarthe  and  He  et  Vilaine.  Ihe  executive  govern- 
ment, at  this  time,  decreed  the  for«iation  of  the 
National  Institute,  and  named  him  one  of  the  forty- 
eight  members  chosen  by  government  to  form  the 
nucleus  of  that  scientific  body. 

In  1797  he  resigned  all  his  public  situations,  and 
once  more  attached  himself  exclusively  to  science 
and  to  the  establishments  for  public  instruction.  In 
1798  he  was  appointed  a  provisional  director  of  the 
Polytechnic  School,  to  supply  the  place  of  Monge, 
who  was  then  in  Egypt.  He  continued  to  exercise 
its  duties  during  eighteen  months,  to  the  complete 
satisfaction  of  every  person  connected  with  that  es- 
tablishment. With  much  delicacy  and  disinterested- 
ness, he  declined  accepting  the  salary  of  2000  francs 
attached  to  this  situation,  which  he  thought  belonged 
to  the  proper  director,  though  absent  from  his 
duties. 

In  1799  Bonaparte  appointed  him  one  of  the  ad- 
ministrators-general of  the  Mint ;  and  the  year  fol- 
lowing he  was  made  director  of  the  Polytechnic 


» 


Its  HISTOHT   OP   CHIMiaTttT.  ■ 

School.  Iq  1803  he  received  the  cross  of  the  Legion 
of  Honour,  then  recently  instituted;  and  in  1S05 
was  made  an  officer  of  the  same  order.  Thes& 
honours  were  intended  aa  a  reward  for  the  advantage 
which  had  accrued  from  the  mineral  acid  fumi^- 
tions  which  he  had  first  suggested.  In  1811  be 
was  created  a  baron  of  tbe  French  empire. 

After  having  taught  in  the  Ecole  Poly  technique 
for  sixteen  yeajs,  he  obtained  leave,  on  applying  to 
the  proper  authorities,  to  withdraw  into  the  retired 
station  of  private  life,  crowned  with  years  and  repu- 
tation, and  followed  with  the  blessings  of  the  nu- 
merous pupib  whom  he  had  brought  up  in  tbe  career 
of  science.  In  this  situation  he  coritiQued  about 
three  years,  during  which  he  witnessed  the  downfiJ 
of  Bonaparte,  and  the  restoration  of  the  Bourbons. 
Oa  the  2l3t  of  December,  1815,  he  was  seized  witb 
a  total  exhaustion  of  strength ;  and,  after  an  illness 
of  three  days  only,  expired  in  the  arms  of  his  dis- 
consolate wife,  and  a  few  trusty  friends,  baviii|* 
nearlv  completed  the  eightieth  year  of  his  age. 
On  the  3d  of  January,  1816,  his  remains  were 
followed  to  the  grave  by  the  members  of  the  In- 
stitute, and  many  other  distinguished  men :  and 
Berthollet,  one  of  his  colleagues,  pronounced  a 
short  but  impressive  funeral  oration  on  his  departed 

Morveau  had  married  Madame  Picardet,  the 
widow  of  a  Dijon  academician,  who  had  dis- 
tinguiahed  himself  by  numerous  scientific  trans> 
lations  from  the  Swedish,  German,  and  English 
languages.  The  marriage  took  place  after  they 
were  both  advanced  in  Life,  and  he  left  no  childrea 
behind  him.  His  publications  on  chemical  subjects-' 
were  exceedingly  numerous,  and  he  contributed  ks 
much  as  any  of  his  contemporaries  to  the  extensioo- 
of  the  science ;  but  as  he  was  not  the  authoi  of  vaf 


PB06RKS8  OF  CHEMlSinKY   IN   TRANCE.      189 

striking  chemical  discoveries,  it  would  be  tedious  to 
give  a  catalogue  of  his  numerous  productions  which 
were  scattered  through  the  Dijon  Memoirs,  the 
Journal  de  Physique,  and  the  Annales  de  Chimie. 


?  CHEstisTsr. 


CHAPTER     IV. 


I 
I 


Analysis,  or  the  art  of  determining  the  con- 
stituents of  which  every  compound  is  composed, 
constitutes  the  essence  of  chemistry :  it  was  there- 
fore Attempted  as  soon  as  the  science  put  on  any 
thing  like  a  systematic  form.  At  first,  with  very 
little  success ;  but  as  knowledge  became  more  and 
morp  general,  chemists  became  more  expert,  and 
something  like  regular  analysis  began  to  appear. 
Thus,  Brandt  showed  that  v>kite  vitriol  is  a  com- 
pound of  sulphuric  acid  and  oxide  of  zinc ;  and  Mar- 
graaf,  that  s'leaile  or  gypsum  is  a  compound  of 
sulphuric  acid  anri  lime.  Dr.  Black  made  ana- 
lyses of  several  of  the  salts  of  magnesia,  so  far 
at  least  as  to  determine  the  nature  of  the  con- 
stituents. F<ir  hardly  any  attempt  was  made 
in  that  early  period  of  the  art  to  determine  the 
weight  of  the  respective  constituents.  The  first 
person  who  attempted  to  lay  down  rules  for  the 
regular  analysis  of  minerals,  and  to  reduce  these 
rules  to  practice,  was  Bergman.  This  he  did  in  his 
papers  "  De  Docimasia  Mioerarum  Humida,"  "  De 
Terra  Gemmarum,"  and  "  De  Terra  Tourma- 
lin!," published  bptwcen  the  years  1777  and  1780. 

To  analyze  a  mineral,  or  to  sepamte  it  into  its 
constituent  parts,  it  is  necessary  in  the  first  place,  to 
be  able  to  dissolve  it  in  an  acid.  Bergmart  showed 
that  most  minerals  become  soluble  in  muriatic  acid 


PROGRESS   OF  ANALYTICAL   CHEMISTRY.     191 

if  they  be  reduced  to  a  very  fine  powder,  and  then 
heated  to  redness,  or  fused  with  an  alkaline  car- 
bonate. After  obtaining  a  solution  in  this  way  he 
pointed  out  methods  by  which  the  different  con- 
stituents may  be  separated  one  after  another,  and 
their  relative  quantities  determined.  The  fusion 
with  an  alkaline  carbonate  required  a  strong  red 
heat.  An  earthenware  crucible  could  not  be  em- 
ployed, because  at  a  fusing  temperature  it  would  be 
corroded  by  the  alkaline  carbonate,  and  thus  the 
mineral  under  analysis  would  be  contaminated  by 
the  addition  of  a  quantity  of  foreign  matter.  Berg- 
man employed  an  iron  crucible.  This  effectually 
prevented  the  addition  of  any  earthy  matter.  But 
at  a  red  heat  the  iron  crucible  itself  is  apt  to  be 
corroded  by  the  action  of  the  alkali,  and  thus  the 
mineral  under  analysis  becomes  contaminated  with 
a  quantity  of  that  metal.  This  iron  might  easily 
be  separated  again  by  known  methods,  and  would 
therefore  be  of  comparatively  small  consequence, 
provided  we  were  sure  that  the  mineral  under  ex- 
amination contained  no  iron  ;  but  when  that  hap- 
pens (and  it  is  a  very  frequent  occurrence),  an  error 
IS  occasioned  which  we  cannot  obviate.  Klaproth 
made  a  vast  improvement  in  the  art  of  analysis,  by 
substituting  crucibles  of  tine  silver  for  the  iron 
crucibles  of  Bergman.  The  only  difficulty  attend- 
ing their  use  was,  that  they  were  apt  to  melt  unless 
great  caution  was  used  in  heating  them.  Dr. 
Wollaston  introduced  crucibles  of  platinum  about 
the  beginning  of  the  present  century.  It  is  from 
that  period  that  we  may  date  the  commencement  of 
accurate  analyzing. 

Bergman's  processes,  as  might  have  been  ex- 
pected, were  rude  and  imperfect.  It  was  Klaproth 
who  first  systematized  chemical  analysis  and  brought 
the  art  to  such  a  state,  that  the  processes  followed 


I 


m  mSTOBT  or  CSEMISTKT. 

could  be  imitated  bv  others  witli  nearly  the  same 
'fESults,  thus  offering  a  ^arantee  lor  the  accuracy  of 
the  process. 

Marun  Henry  Klaproth,  to  whom  chemistry  lies 
under  so  many  and  such  deep  obligations,  was  bom 
ai  Wernigerode,  on  the  1st  of  December,  1743.  His 
father  bad  the  mislbrttine  to  lose  his  whole  goods 
by  a  great  fire,  on  the  30th  of  June,  1751,  so  that 
he  was  able  to  do  little  or  nothing  for  the  education 
of  bis  children.  Martin  was  the  second  of  three 
brothers,  the  eldest  of  whom  became  a  clergyman, 
and  the  youngest  private  secretary  at  war,  and 
keeper  of  the  archives  of  the  cabinet  of  Berlin. 
Martin  survived  both  his  brothers.  He  procured 
euch  meagre  tustruction  in  the  Latin  language  as  the 
school  of  Wemigerode  afforded,  and  he  was  obliged 
to  procure  his  small  school-fees  by  singing  as  one 
of  the  church  choir.  It  was  at  first  his  intention  to 
study  theology;  but  the  unmerited  hard  treatment 
which  he  metwithatschaol  so  disiaclined  him  to  study, 
that  he  determined,  in  his  sixteenth  year,  to  leam  the 
trade  of  an  apothecary.  Five  years  which  he  was 
forced  to  spend  as  an  apprentice,  and  two  as  an 
assistant  in  the  public  laboratory  in  Quedlinburg, 
furnished  him  with  but  little  scientific  information, 
and  gave  him  little  else  than  a  certain  mechanical 
adroitness  in  the  most  common  pharmaceutical 
preparations. 

He  always  regarded  as  the  epoch  of  his  scientific 
instruction,  the  two  years  which  he  spent  in  tlie 
public  laboratory  at  Hanover,  from  Easter  1766, 
till  the  same  time  in  1768.  It  was  there  that  he 
first  met  with  some  chemical  books  of  merit,  es- 
pecially  those  of  Spiebnan,  and  Cartheuaer,  in  which 
a  higher  scientific  spirit  already  breathed.  He  was 
'  now  anxious  to  go  to  Berlin,  of  which  he  had  formed 
a  high  idea  from  the  works  of  Pott,  Henkel,  Rose, 


FR06RE8B  OF   ANALYTICAL  CHBMISTRT.      193 

and  Margraaf.  An  opportunity  presenting  itself 
■about  Easter,  1768,  he  was  placed  as  assistant  in  the 
laboratory  of  Wendland,  at  the  sign  of  the  Golden 
Angel,  in  the  Street  of  the  Moors.  Here  he  employed 
all  the  time  which  a  conscientious  discharge  of  the 
duties  of  his  station  left  him,  in  completing  his  own 
scientific  education.  And  as  he  considered  a  pro- 
founder  acquaintance  with  the  ancient  languages, 
than  he  had  been  able  to  pick  up  at  the  sciiool  of 
Wernigerode,  indispensable  for  a  complete  scientific 
education,  he  applied  himself  with  great  zeal  to  the 
fitudy  of  the  Greek  and  Latin  languages,  and  was 
assisted  in  his  studies  by  Mr.  Poppelbourn,  at  that 
time  a  preacher. 

About  Michaelmas,  1770,  he  went  to  Dantzig,  as 
assistant  in  the  public  laboratory :  but  in  March  of 
the  following  year  he  returned  to  Berlin,  as  assistant 
in  the  office  of  the  elder  Valentine  Rose,  who  was 
one  of  the  most  distinguished  chemists  of  his  day. 
But  this  connexion  did  not  continue  long ;  for  Rose 
died  in  1771.  On  his  deathbed  he  requested 
Klaproth  to  undertake  the  superintendence  of  his 
office.  Klaproth  not  only  superintended  this  office 
for  nine  years  with  the  most  exemplary  fidelity  and 
conscientiousness,  but  undertook  the  education  of 
the  two  sons  of  Rose,  as  if  he  had  been  their  father. 
The  younger  died  before  reaching  the  age  of  man- 
hood: the  elder  became  his  intimate  friend,  and 
the  associate  of  all  his  scientific  researches.  For 
several  years  before  the  death  of  Rose  (which  hap- 
pened in  1808)  they  wrought  together,  and  Klaproth 
was  seldom  satisfied  with  the  results  of  his  experi- 
ments till  they  had  been  repeated  by  Rose. 

In  the  year  1780  Klaproth  went  through  his  trials 
for  the  office  of  apothecary  with  distinguished  ap- 
planse.  His  thesis,  *^  On  Fhosphorus  and  distilled 
Waters/'  was  printed  in  the  Berlin  Miscellanies  for 

VOL.    II.  o 


1782.  Soon  after  this,  Klaproth  bought  what  had 
formerly  been  the  Flemmiug  laboratory  in  SpandaU' 
street :  and  he  married  Sophia  Christiana  Lelcman, 
with  whom  he  lived  till  1803  (when  she  died)  in  a 
happy  state.  They  had  three  daughters  and  a  son, 
■who  survived  their  parents.  He  continued  in  pos- 
session of  this  laboratory,  in  which  he  had  arranged 
a  small  work-room  of  his  own,  till  the  year  1800, 
when  he  purchased  the  room  of  the  Academical  Che- 
mists, in  which  he  was  enabled,  at  the  expense  of 
the  academy,  to  fomish  a  better  and  more  spacious 
apartment  for  his  labours,  for  bis  mineralogical  and 
chemical  collection,  and  for  his  lectures. 

As  soon  as  he  had  brought  the  tirst  arrangements 
of  his  office  to  perfection — an  office  which,  under 
his  inspection  and  management,  became  the  model 
of  a  laboratory,  conducted  upon  the  most  excellent 
principles,  and  governed  with  the  most  conscientious 
integrity,  he  published  in  the  various  periodic^ 
works  of  Germany,  such  as  "  Crell's  Chemical 
Annals,"  the  "  Writings  of  the  Society  for  the  pro- 
motion of  Natural  Knowledge,"  "  Selle'a  Contribu- 
tions to  the  Science  of  Nature  and  of  Medicine," 
"  Kohler's  Journal,"  &c. ;  a  multitude  of  papers 
which  soon  drew  the  attention  of  chemists ;  for  ex- 
ample, his  Essay  on  Copal — on  the  Elastic  Ston^— 
on  Proust's  Sel  perlee — on  the  Green  Lead  Spar  <rf 
Tschoppau — on  the  best  Method  of  preparing  Am- 
monia— -on  the  Carbonate  of  Barytes — on  the  Wol- 
fram of  Cornwall— ^)n  Wood  Tin— on  the  Violet 
Schorl — on  the  celebrated  Aerial  Gold — on  Apatite, 
&c.  Ail  these  papers,  which  secured  him  a  hi^ 
reputation  as  a  chemist,  appeared  before  1788,  when 
he  was  chosen  an  ordinary  member  of  the  physical 
cla?s  of  the  Royal  Berlin  Academy  of  Sciences.  The 
Royal  Academy  of  Arts  had  elected  him  a  member 
a  year  earlier.     From  this  time,  every  volume  of  the 


PROGRESS   OF   ANALYTICAL  CHEMISTRY.       195 

Memoirs  of  the  Academy,  and  many  other  periodi- 
cal works  besides,  contained  numerous  papers  by 
this  accomplished  chemist;  and  there  is  not  one 
of  them  which  does  not  furnish  us  with  a  more 
exact  knowledge  of  some  one  of  the  productions  of 
nature  or  art.  He  has  either  corrected  false  repre- 
sentations, or  extended  views  that  were  before  par- 
tially known,  or  has  revealed  the  composition  and 
mixture  of  the  parts  of  bodies,  and  has  made  us  ac- 
quainted with  a  variety  of  new  elementary  sub- 
stances. Amidst  all  these  labours,  it  is  difficult  to 
say  whether  we  should  most  admire  the  fortunate 
genius,  which,  in  all  cases,  readily  and  easily  divined 
the  point  where  any  thing  of  importance  lay  con- 
cealed; or  the  acuteness  which  enabled  him  to  find 
the  best  means  of  accomplishing  his  object;  or  the 
unceasing  labour  and  incomparable  exactness  with 
which  he  developed  it;  or  the  pure  scientific  feeling 
under  which  he  acted,  and  which  was  removed  at 
the  utmost  possible  distance  from  every  selfish,  every 
avaricious,  and  every  contentious  purpose. 

In  the  year  1795  he  began  to  collect  his  chemical 
works  which  lay  scattered  among  so  many  periodical 
publications,and  gave  them  to  the  world  under  the 
title  of  "  Beitrage  zur  Chemischen  Kenntniss  der  Mi- 
neralkorper"  (Contributions  to  the  Chemical  Know- 
ledge of  Mineral  Bodies).  Of  this  work,  which  con- 
sists of  six  volumes,  the  last  was  published  in  1815, 
about  a  year  before  the  author's  death.  It  contains 
no  fewer  than  two  hundred  and  seven  treatises,  the 
most  valuable  part  of  all  that  Klaproth  had  done  for 
chemistry  and  mineralogy.  It  is  a  pity  that  the  sale 
of  this  work  did  not  permit  the  publication  of  a 
seventh  volume,  which  would  have  included  the  rest 
of  his  papers,  which  he  had  not  collected,  and  given 
us  a  good  index  to  the  whole  work,  which  would 
have  been  of  great  importance  to  the  practical  che- 

o2 


I 


SUTOBT  OF  CUEHIB1!B.r. 

mist.  There  is,  indeed,  an  index  to  the  first  five 
volumes ;  but  it  is  meagre  and  defective,  containing; 
little  else  than  the  names  of  the  substances  on  which 
his  experiroenls  were  made. 

Besides  his  own  works,  the  interest  which  he  took 
in  the  labours  of  others  deserves  to  be  noticed.  He 
superintended  a  new  edition  of  Gren's  Manual  of 
Chemistry,  remarkable  not  so  much  for  what  he 
added  as  for  what  he  took  away  and  corrected. 
The  part  which  he  took  in  Wolff's  Chemical 
Dictionary  was  of  great  importance.  The  compo- 
sition of  every  particular  treatise  was  by  Professor 
Wolff;  but  Klaproth  read  over  every  important  ar- 
ticle before  it  was  printed,  and  assisted  the  editor  on 
all  occasions  with  the  treasures  of  his  experience  and 
knowledge.  Nor  was  he  less  useful  to  Fischer  in 
his  translation  of  BerthoUet  on  AfRnily  and  on  Che- 
mical Statics. 

These  meritorions  services,  and  the  lustre  which 
his  character  and  discoveries  conferred  on  his  country 
were  duly  appreciated  by  his  sovereign.  In  1782 
he  had  been  made  assessorin  the  Supreme  Collegie  of 
Medicine  and  of  Health,  which  then  existed.  At  « 
more  recent  period  he  enjoyed  the  same  rank  in  the 
Supreme  Council  of  Medicine  and  of  Health  ;  and 
when  this  college  was  subverted,  in  1810,  he  became  a 
member  of  the  medical  deputation  attached  to  the  mi- 
nistry of  the  interior.  He  was  also  a  member  of  the 
perpetual  court  commission  for  medicines.  His  lec- 
tures, too,  procured  for  him  several  municipal  situa- 
tions. As  soon  as  the  public  became  acquainted  with 
his  great  chemical  acquirements  he  was  permitted  to 
give  yearly  two  private  courses  of  lectures  on  che- 
mistry ;  one  for  the  officers  of  the  royal  artillery 
corps,  the  other  for  officers  not  connected  with  the 
army,  who  wished  to  accomplish  themselves  for  some 
practical  employment.     Both  of  these  lectures  as- 


FR0GBE9S  or  AKJLLYTiClX  CBEMISTBY.      I9T 

smued  afterwards  a  municipal  character.  The  fonner 
led  to  his  appdintment  at  professsor  of  the  Artillery 
Academy  instituted  at  Tempelhoff ;  and,  after  its  dis-^ 
soiutioa,  to  his  situation  as  professor  in  the  Royal  War 
School.  The  other  lecture  procured  for  him  the  pro* 
lessorship  of  chemistry  in  the  Royal  Mining  Institu- 
tute.  On  the  establishment  of  the  university, 
Klaproth*s  lectures  became  those  of  the  university, 
and  he  himself  was  appointed  ordinary  professor  of 
ciiemistry,  and  member  of  the  academical  senate. 
From  1797  to  1810  he  was  an  active  member  of  a 
small  scientific  society,  which  met  yearly  during  a 
few  weeks  for  the  purpose  of  discussing  the  mc»*e  re- 
eoadite  mysteries  of  the  science.  In  the  year  1811, 
tiie  King  of  Prussia  added  to  all  his  other  honours 
the  order  of  the  Red  Eagle  of  the  third  class. 

Klaproth  spent  tl^  whole  of  a  long  life  in  the 
most  active  and  conscientious  discharge  of  all  the 
duties  of  his  station,  and  in  an  uninterrupted  course 
•f  experimental  investigations.  He  died  at  Berlin 
OA  the  1st  of  January,  1817,  in  the  70th  year  of  his 
age. 

Among  the  remarkable  traits  in  his  character  was 
his  incorruptible  regard  for  every  thing  that  he  be- 
lieved to  be  true,  honourable,  and  good ;  his  pure 
love  of  science,  with  no  reference  whatever  to  any 
sdfish,  ambitious,  and  avaricious  feeling ;  his  rare 
modesty,  undebased  by  the  slightest  vainglory  or 
boasting.  He  was  benevolently  disposed  towards 
all  men,  and  never  did  a  slighting  or  contemptuous 
word  respecting  any  person  fall  from  him.  When 
fioorced  to  blame,  he  did  it  briefly,  and  without  bit- 
terness, for  his  blame  always  applied  to  actions,. 
act  to  persons.  His  friendship  was  never  the  result 
of  selfish  calculation,  but  was  founded  on  his 
Ofsnion  of  the  personal  worth  of  the  individual* 
Amidst   all   the  unpleasant  accidents  of  his  life^ 


198  mnoET  or  chkmistkt. 

which  were  hr  from  few,  be  evinced  die  greatest 
finnneas  of  mind.     In  his  common  befaarioiir  he  was 
pleasant  and  composed,  and  was  indeed  radier  in- 
clined to  a  joke.     To  all  thb  may  be  added  a  tnie 
religioos    feeling,  so    oncommon    among  men  of 
science  of  his  day.     His  rel^ion  consisted  not  in 
words  and  forms,  not  in  positrre  doctrines,  nor  in 
ecclesiastical  obseirances,  which,  howerer,  he  be- 
lieved to  be  necessary  and  honoaiable;  hot  in  a 
zealous  and  conscientions  discharge  of  all  his  duties, 
not  only  of  those  which  are  imposed  by  the  laws 
of  men,  but  of  those  holy  duties  of  lore  and  charity, 
which  no  human  law,  but  only  that  of  (jod  can 
command,  and  without  which  the  most  enlightened 
of  men  is  but  ^*  as  sounding  brass,  or  a  tinkling  cym- 
bal."    He  early  showed  this  religious  feeling  by  the 
honourable  care  which  he  bestowed  on  the  education 
of  the  children  of  Valentine  Rose.    Nor  did  he  show 
less  care  at  an  after-period  towards  his  assistants  and 
apprentices,  to  whom  he  refused  no  instruction,  and 
in  whose  success  he  took  the  most  active  concern. 
He  took  a  pleasure  in  every  thing  that  was  good  and 
excellent,  and  felt  a  lively  interest  in  every  under- 
taking which  he  believed  to  be  of  general  utility. 
He  was  equally  removed  from  the  superstition  and 
infidelity  of  his  age,  and  carried  the  principles  of 
religion,  not  on  his  lips,  but  in  the  inmost  feelings 
of  his  heart,  from  whence  they  emanated  in  actions 
which  pervaded  and  ennobled  his  whole  being  and 
conduct. 

When  we  take  a  view  of  the  benefits  which  Kla- 
proth  conferred  upon  chemistry,  we  must  not  look 
so  much  at  the  new  elementary  substances  which  he 
discovered,  though  they  must  not  be  forgotten,  as 
at  the  new  analytical  methods  which  he  intro- 
duced, the  precision,  and  neatness,  and  order,  and 
regularity  with  which  his  analyses  were  conducted. 


PROGRESS  OF   ANALYTICAL  CHEMISTRY.      199 

and  the  scrupulous  fidelity  with  which  every  thing 
was  faithfully  stated  as  he  found  it. 

1.  When  a  mineral  is  subjected  to  analysis,  what- 
ever care  we  take  to  collect  all  the  constituents, 
and  to  weigh  them  without  losing  any  portion  what- 
ever, it  is  generally  found  that  the  sum  of  the  con- 
stituents obtained  fall  a  little  short  of  the  weight  of 
the  mineral  employed  in  the  analysis.      Thus,  if  we 
take  100  grains  of  any  mineral,  and  analyze  it,  the 
we^hts  of  all  the  constituents  obtained  added  toge- 
ther will  rarely  make  up  100  grains,  but  generally 
somewhat  less ;  perhaps  only  99,  or  even  98  grains. 
But  some  cases  occur,  when  the  analysis  of  100 
grains  of  a  mineral  gives  us  constituents  that  weigh, 
when  added  together,  more  than  100  grains;  per- 
haps 105,  or,  in  some  rare  cases,  as  much  as  110. 
It    was    the    custom    with    Bergman,    and  other 
analysts  of  his  time,  to  consider  this  deficiency  or 
surplus  as  owing  to  errors  in  the  analysis,  and  there- 
fore to  slur  it  over  in  the  statement  of  the  analysis, 
by  bringing  the  weight  of  the  constituents,  by  cal- 
culation, to  amount  exactly  to  100  grains.  Klaproth 
introduced  the  method  of  stating  the  results  exactly 
as  he  got  them.      He  gives  the  weight  of  mineral 
employed  in  all  his  analyses,  and  the  weight  of  each 
constituent  extracted.     These  weights,  added  toge- 
ther, generally  show  a  loss,  varying  from  two  per 
cent,  to  a  half  per  cent.    This  improvement  may  a'p- 
pear  at  first  sight  trifling ;  yet  I  am  persuaded  that 
to  it  we  are  indebted  for  most  of  the  subsequent  im- 
provements introduced  into  analytical  chemistry.  If 
the  loss  sustained  was  too  great,  it  was  obvious  either 
that  the  analysis  had  been  badly  performed,  or  that 
the  mineral  contains  some  constituent  which  had 
been  overlooked,  and  not  obtained.    This  laid  him 
under  the  necessity  of  repeating  the  analysis ;  and 
if  the  loss  pontinued,  he  naturally  looked  out  for 


200  HisTOttv  op  CHEVianiT. 

some  constituent  wbicli  his  analysis  had  not  enabled 

bira  to  obtain.  It  was  in  this  way  that  he  discovered 
the  presence  of  potash  in  mineriils ;  and  Dr.  Ken- 
nedy  afterwards,  by  following  out  his  processes,  dis- 
covered soda  OS  a  constituent.  It  was  in  this  way 
that  water,  phosphoric  acid,  arsenic  acid,  fluoric 
acid,  boracic  acid,  &c.,  were  also  found  to  exist  as 
constituents  in  various  mineral  bodies,  which,  but 
for  the  accurate  mode  of  notation  introduced  by 
Klaproth,  wouldhavebeen  overlooked  and  neglected. 
2,  When  Klaproth  first  began  to  analyze  atineral 
bodies,  he  found  it  extremely  difficult  to  bring  them 
into  a  state  capable  of  being;  dissolved  in  acids,  with- 
out which  an  accurate  analysis  was  impossible.  Ac- 
cordingly corundum,  adamantine  spar,  and  the  xtr- 
con,  or  hyacinth,  baffled  bis  attempts  for  a  con^derft- 
ble  time,  and  induced  liim  to  consider  the  earth  of 
corundum  as  of  a  peculiar  nature.  He  obviated 
this  difGculty  by  reducing  the  mineral  to  an  ex- 
tremely fine  powder,  and,  after  digesting  it  in  caustic 
potash  icy  till  all  the  water  was  dissipated,  raising 
the  temperature,  and  bringing  the  whole  into  a  state 
of  fusion.  This  fusion  must  be  performed  in  asilver 
crucible.  Corundum,  and  every  otherniineral  which 
had  remained  insoluble  at>er  fusion  with  an  alkaline 
carbonate,  was  found  to  yield  to  this  new  process. 
This  was  an  improvement  of  considerable  import- 
ance. All  those  stony  minerals  which  contain  a 
notable  proportion  of  silica,  in  general  become  solu~ 
ble  after  having  been  kept  for  some  time  in  a  state 
of  ignition  with  twice  their  weight  of  carbonate  of 
soda.  At  that  temperature  the  silica  of  the  mineral 
unites  with  the  soda,  and  the  carbonic  acid  is  ex- 
pelled. But  when  the  quantity  of  silica  is  small,  or 
when  it  is  totally  absent,  heating  with  carbonate  of 
soda  does  not  answer  so  well.  With  such  minerals, 
caustic  potash  or  soda  m&y  be  substituted  with  ad- 


PBOG&E&S  OF  AVAJLTTICAI*  CHZMISTRT.      201 

mmtage ;  and  there  are  some  of  them  that  cannot  be 
voalyz^  without  having  recourse  to  that  agent.  I 
have  succeeded  in  ansdyzing  corundum  and  chry«* 
lOberjl,  neither  of  which,  when  pure,  contain  any 
ailica,  by  simply  heating  them  in  carbonate  of  soda; 
but  the  process  does  not  succeed  unless  the  minerals 
be  reduced  to  an  exceedingly  minute  powder. 

3.  When  Klaproth  discovered  potash  in  the  ido« 
erase,  and  in  some  other  minerals,  it  became  obvious 
that  the  old  mode  of  rendering  minerals  soluble  in 
acids  by  heating  them  with  caustic  potash,  or  an 
alkaline  carbonate,  could  answer  only  for  deter- 
mining the  quantity  of  silica,  and  of  earths  or  oxides^ 
which  the  mineral  contained;  but  that  it  could  not 
be  used  when  the  object  was  to  determine  its  potash. 
Hiis  led  him  to  substitute  carbonate  of  baryies  in- 
stead of  potash  or  soda,  or  their  carbonates.  After 
having  ascertained  the  quantity  of  silica,  and  of 
earths,  and  metallic  oxides,  which  the  mineral  con- 
tained, his  last  process  to  determine  the  potash  in  it 
was  conducted  in  this  way :  A  portion  of  the  mineral 
leduced  to  a  fine  po\Mer  was  mixed  with  four  or 
five  times  its  weight  of  carbonate  of  barytes,  and 
kept  for  some  time  (in  a  platinum  crucible)  in  a  red 
heat.  By  this  process,  the  whole  becomes  soluble 
in  muriatic  acid.  The  muriatic  acid  solution  is  freed 
£rom  silica,  and  afterwards  from  barytes,  and  all  the 
earths  and  oxides  which  it  contains,  by  means  of 
carbonate  of .  ammonia.  The  liquid,  thus  freed 
£rom  every  thing  but  the  alkali,  which  is  held  in 
solution  by  the  muriatic  acid,  and  the  ammonia, 
used  as  a  precipitant,  is  evaporated  to  dryness,  and 
the  dry  mass,  cautiously  heated  in  a  platinum  crucible 
till  the  ammoniacal  salts  are  driven  off.  Nothing 
now  remains  but  the  potash,  or  soda,  in  combination 
yntii  muriatic  acid.  The  addition  of  muriate  of 
plftijniiyn  enables  us  to  determine  whether  the  alkali 


HISTORY  07  CBEMISTRT. 


be  potash  or  soda :  if  it  be  potasi),  it  o 

jellow  precipitate ;   but  nothing  falls  if  the  alkali  be 

soda. 

Tbis  method  of  analyzing  minerals  containing  pot- 
ash or  soda  is  comnionly  ascribed  to  Rose.  Fescher, 
in  his  Eloge  of  Klaproth,  informs  us  that  K1&- 
proth  said  to  him,  more  than  once,  that  he  was  not 
quite  sure  whether  he  himself,  or  Rose,  had  the 
greatest  share  in  bringing  this  method  to  a  state  of 
perfection.  From  this,  1  think  it  not  unlikely  that 
the  original  suggestion  might  have  been  owing  to 
Rose,  hat  that  it  was  Klaproth  who  first  put  it  to 
the  test  of  experiment. 

The  objection  to  this  mode  of  analyzing  is  the 
high  price  of  the  carbonate  of  barytes.  This  is 
partly  obviated  by  recovering  the  barytes  in  the  state 
of  carbonate;  and  this,  in  general,  may  be  done, 
without  much  loss.  Berthier  has  proposed  to  sub- 
stitute oxide  of  lead  for  carbonate  of  barytes.  It 
answers  very  well,  is  sufficiently  cheap,  and  does 
sot  injure  the  crucible,  provided  the  oxide  of  lead 
be  mixed  previously  with  a  little  nitrate  of  lead,  to 
oxidize  any  fragments  of  metallic  lead  which  it  may 
happen  to  contain.     Berthier's  mode,  therefore,  in 

Joint  of  cheapnesses  preferable  to  that  of  Klaproth. 
t  is  equally  efficacious  and  equally  accurate.  There 
are  some  other  processes  which  I  mpelf  prefer  to 
either  of  these,  because  I  find  them  equally  easy, 
and  still  less  expensive  than  either  carbonate  of  ba- 
rytes or  oxide  of  lead.  Davy's  method  with  boracic 
acid  is  exceptionable,  on  account  of  the  difficulty  of 
sepai-ating  the  boracic  acid  completely  t^in. 

4.  The  mode  of  separating  iron  and  manganese 
from  each  other  employed  by  Bergman  was  so  de- 
fective, that  no  confidence  whatever  can  be  placed 
ill  his  results.  Even  the  methods  su^ested  by 
Vauquelin,  though  belter,  are  still  defectiTc.     But 


PROGRESS   OF  ANALYTICAL   CHEMISTRY.     203 

the  process  followed  by  Klaproth  is  susceptible  of 
very  great  precision.  He  has  (we  shall  suppose) 
the  mixture  of  iron  and  manganese  to  be  separated 
from  each  other^  in  solution,  in  muriatic  acid.  The 
first  step  of  the  process  is  to  convert  the  protoxide  of 
iron  (should  it  be  in  that  state)  into  peroxide.  For 
this  purpose,  a  little  nitric  acid  is  added  to  the  solu- 
tion, and  the  whole  heated  for  some  time.  The 
liquid  is  now  to  be  rendered  as  neutral  as  possible  ; 
first,  by  driving  off  as  much  of  the  excess  of  acid  as 
possible,  by  concentrating  the  liquid ;  and  then  by 
completing  the  neutralization,  by  adding  very  dilute 
ammonia,  till  no  more  can  be  added  without  occa- 
sioning a  permanent  precipitation.  Into  the  liquid 
thus  neutralized,  succinate  or  benzoate  of  ammonia 
is  dropped,  as  long  as  any  precipitate  appears.  By 
this  means,  the  whole  peroxide  of  iron  is  thrown 
down  in  combination  with  succinic,  or  benzoic  acid, 
while  the  whole  manganese  remains  in  solution. 
The  liquid  being  filtered,  to  separate  the  benzoate 
of  iron,  the  manganese  may  now  (if  nothing  else  be 
in  the  liquid)  be  thrown  down  by  an  alkaline  car- 
bonate ;  or,  if  the  liquid  contain  magnesia,  or  any 
other  earthy  matter,  by  hydrosulphuret  of  ammonia, 
or  chloride  of  lime. 

This  process  was  the  contrivance  of  Gehlen  ;  but 
it  was  made  known  to  the  public  by  Klaproth,  who 
ever  after  employed  it  in  his  analyses.  Gehlen 
employed  succinate  of  ammonia;  but  Hisinger  after- 
wards showed  that  benzoate  of  ammonia  might  be 
substituted  without  any  diminution  of  the  accuracy 
of  the  separation.  This  last  salt,  being  much  cheaper 
than  succinate  of  ammonia,  answers  better  in  this 
country*  In  Germany,  the  succinic  acid  is  the 
cheaper  of  the  two,  ana  therefore  the  best. 

5.  But  it  was  not  by  new  processes  alone  that 
Klaproth  improved  the  mode  of  analysis^  though 


I 


I 


SOT  HisTOtiT  OF  cnEMismT. 

diey  were  numerouB  and  important ;  the  imprDT&- 
Bients  in  the  apparatus  c;ontributed  not  less  essen- 
tially to  the  SDCcesa  of  bis  eEperiments.  When  he 
had  to  do  with  very  hard  minerals,  he  employed  & 
mortar  of  flint,  or  rather  of  agate.  This  mortar  he, 
in  the  first  place,  analyzed,  to  determine  exactly  tie 
nature  of  the  constituents.  He  then  weighed  it. 
When  a  very  hard  body  is  poundedin  sucha  mortar, 
2.  portion  of  die  mortar  is  rubbed  off,  and  mixed 
with  the  pounded  mineral.  What  the  quantity  thus 
abraded  was,  he  determined  by  weighing  the  mortar 
at  the  end  of  the  process.  The  loss  of  weight  gave 
the  portion  of  the  mortar  abraded  ;  and  this  portion 
mu3t  be  mixed  with  the  pounded  mineral. 

When  a  hard  stone  is  pounded  in  an  agate  mortar 
it  is  scarcely  possible  to  avoid  losing  a  little  of  it. 
The  best  method  of  proceeding;  is  to  mix  the  matter 
to  be  pounded  (previously  reduced  to  a  coarse  pow- 
der  in  a  diamond  mortar)  with  a  little  water.  This 
both  facilitates  the  trituration,  and  prevents  any  of 
the  duBt  from  flying  away;  and  not  more  than  a  couple 
of  grains  of  the  mineral  should  be  pounded  al  once. 
Still,  owing  to  very  obvious  causes,  a  little  of  the 
mineral  is  sure  to  be  lost  during  the  pounding'. 
When  the  process  is  finished,  the  whole  powder  is 
to  be  exposed  to  a  red  heat  in  a  platinum  crucible, 
and  weighed.  Supposing  no  loss,  the  weight  should 
be  equal  to  the  quantity  of  the  mineral  pounded 
together  with  the  portion  abraded  from  the  mortar. 
But  almost  always  the  weight  will  be  found  less 
than  this,  Sup[}OBe  the  original  weight  of  the  mi- 
neral  before  pouiidingwas  a,  and  the  quantity  abraded 
from  the  mortar  I ;  then,  if  nothing  were  lost,  the 
weight  should  be  a  +  1 ;  but  we  actually  find  it 
only  b,  a  quantity  less  than  a  +  I.  To  determine 
&e  weight  of  matter  abraded  from  the  mortal  con- 
tained in  this  powder,  we  say  a+  I  :  b  ','.  1  :  x,  the 


PROGRS99  Caf  AHALTTICAX  CHEMISTRY.      1205 

quantity  from  the  mortar  in  our  powder,  and  xrz  --j-f 

In  perfonning  the  analysis,  Klaproth  attended  to 
this  quantity,  which  was  silica,  and  subtracted  it. 
Such  minute  attention  may  appear,  at  first  sight 
miperfluous;  but  it  is  not  so.  In  analyzing  sap*- 
phire,  chrysoberyl,  and  some  other  very  hard  mine- 
rals, the  quantity  of  silica  abraded  from  the  mortar 
iM)metimes  amounts  to  five  per  cent,  of  the  weight  of 
the  mineral ;  and  if  we  were  not  to  attend  to  the 
way  in  which  this  silica  has  been  introduced  into  the 
powder,  we  should  give  an  erroneous  view  of  the  con^ 
stitution  of  the  mineral  under  analysis.  All  the 
analyses  of  chrysoberyl  hitherto  published,  give  a 
considerable  quantity  of  silica  as  a  constituent  of  it. 
This  silica,  if  really  found  by  the  analysts,  must 
have  been  introduced  from  the  mortar,  for  pure 
chrysoberyl  contains  no  silica  whatever,  but  is  a  defi- 
nite compound  of  glucina,  alumina,  and  oxide  of  iron. 
When  Klaproth  operated  with  fire,  he  always  se- 
lected his  vessels,  whether  of  earthenware,  glass, 
plumbago,  iron,  silver,  or  platinum,  upon  fixed 
principles;  and  showed  more  distinctly  than  che- 
mists had  previously  been  aware  of,  what  an  effect 
the  vessel  frequently  has  upon  the  result.  He  also 
prepared  his  reagents  with  great  care,  to  ensure 
their  purity ;  for  obtaining  several  of  which  in  their 
most  perfect  state,  he  invented  several  efficient 
methods.  It  is  to  the  extreme  care  with  which  he 
selected  his  minerals  for  analysis,  and  to  the  purity 
of  his  reagents,  and  the  fitness  of  his  vessels  for  the 
objects  in  view,  that  the  great  accuracy  of  his  ana- 
lyses is  to  be,  in  a  great  measure,  ascribed.  He 
must  also  have  possessed  considerable  dexterity  in 
operating,  for  when  he  had  in  view  to  determine  any 
particular  point  with  accuracy,  his  results  came, 
in  general,  exceedingly  near  the  truth.      I  may  no- 


I 


tice,  as  an  example  of  this,  his  analysis  of  solphate 
of  barytes,  whicii  was  within  about  one-and-a-half 
per  cent,  of  absolute  correctness.  When  we  consider 
the  looseness  of  the  data  which  chemists  were  then 
obliged  to  use,  we  cannot  but  be  surprised  at  the 
smailness  of  the  error.  Berzelius,  in  possession  of 
better  data,  and  possessed  of  much  dexterity,  and  & 
good  apparatus,  when  he  analyzed  this  salt  many 
years  afterwards,  committed  an  error  of  a  half  per 
cent, 

Klaproth,  during  a  very  laborious  life,  wholly  de- 
voted to  analytical  chemistry,  entirely  altered  the 
face  of  mineralogy.  When  he  began  his  labours, 
chemists  were  not  acquainted  with  the  true  com- 
position of  a  single  mineral.  He  analyzed  above 
200  species,  and  the  greater  number  of  them  with  so 
much  accuracy,  that  his  suceesaora  have,  in  most 
cases,  confirmed  the  results  which  he  obtained.  The 
analyses  least  to  be  depended  on,  are  of  those  mine- 
rals which  contain  both  lime  and  magnesia ;  -  for  his 
process  for  separating  lime  and  magnesia  from  each 
other  was  not  a  good  one ;  nor  am  I  sure  that  he 
always  succeeded  completely  in  separating  silica  and 
magnesia  from  each  other.  This  branch  of  analysis 
■was  first  properly  elucidated  by  Mr.  Chenevix. 

6.  Analytical  chemistry  was,  in  fact,  systematized 
by  Klaproth ;  and  it  is  by  studying  his  numerous 
and  varied  analyses,  that  modem  chemists  have 
learned  this  very  essential,  but  somewhat  difficult 
art ;  and  have  been  able,  by  means  of  still  more  ac- 
curate data  than  he  possessed,  to  bring  it  to  a  still 
greater  degree  of  perfection.  But  it  must  not  be 
forgotten,  that  Klaproth  was  in  reality  the  creator  of 
this  art,  and  that  on  that  account  the  greatest  part 
of  the  credit  due  to  the  progress  that  has  been  made 
in  it  belongs  to  him. 

It  would  be  invidious  to  point  out  the  particular 


PROGRESS  07   ANALYTICAL  CHEMISTRY.     207 

analyses  whieh  are  least  exact ;  perhaps  they  ought 
•lather  to  be  ascribed  to  an  unfortunate  selection  of 
specimens,  than  to  any  want  of  care  or  skill  in  the 
operator.  But,  during  his  analytical  processes,  he 
discovered  a  variety  of  new  elementary  substances 
"which  it  may  be  proper  to  enumerate. 

In  1789  he  examined  a  mineral  called  pechblendey 
and  found  in  it  the  oxide  of  a  hew  metal,  to  which 
he  gave  the  name  of  uranium.  He  determined  its 
characters,  reduced  it  to  the  metallic  state,  and 
described  its  properties.  It  was  afterwards  examined 
by  Richter,  Bucholz,  Arfvedson,  and  Berzelius. 

It  was  in  the  same  year,  1789,  that  he  published 
his  analysis  of  the  zircon ;  he  showed  it  to  be  a  com- 
pound of  silica  and  a  new  earth,  to  which  he  gave 
the  name  of  zirconia.  He  determined  the  properties 
of  this  new  earth,  and  showed  how  it  might  be  sepa- 
rated from  other  bodies  and  obtained  in  a  state  of 
purity.  It  has  been  since  ascertained,  that  it  is  a 
metallic  oxide,  and  the  metallic  basis  of  it  is  now 
distinguished  by  the  name  of  zirconium.  In  1795 
he  showed  that  the  hyacinth  is  composed  of  the  same 
ingredients  as  the  zircon ;  and  that  both,  in  fact, 
constitute  only  one  species.  This  last  analysis  was 
repeated  by  Morveau,  and  has  been  often  confirmed 
by  modern  analytical  chemists. 

It  was  in  1795  that  he  analyzed  what  was  at  that 
time  called  rec?  schorl,  and  now  titanite.  He  showed 
that  it  was  the  oxide  of  a  new  metallic  body,  to 
which  he  gave  the  name  of  titanium.  He  described 
the  properties  of  this  new  body,  and  pointed  out  its 
distinctive  characters.  It  must  not  be  omitted, 
however,  that  he  did  not  succeed  in  obtaining  oxide 
of  titanium,  or  titanic  add,  as  it  is  now  called,  in  a 
state  of  purity.  He  was  not  able  to  separate  a 
quantity  of  oxide  of  iron,  with  which  it  was  united, 
and  which  gave  it  a  reddish  colour.      It  was  first 


508 


f  07  CMIMllTRT. 


I 


obtained  pure  by  H.  Rose,  the  son  of  hia  friend  and 
pupil ,  who  took  so  considerable  a  part  in  hia  scientfic 
investigatioas. 

Titanium,  in  the  metallic  state,  was  some  yean 
ago  diacoTcred  by  Dr.  Wollaaton,  in  the  slag  at  the 
bottom  of  the  iron  furnace,  at  Merthyr  Tydvil,  b 
Wales.  It  is  a  yellow-coloured,  brittle,  but  very 
hard  metal,  possessed  of  considerable  beauty;  but 
not  yet  applied  to  any  useful  purpose. 

In  1797  he  examined  the  menachanite,  a  black 
sand  from  Cornwall,  which  had  been  subjected  to 
a  chemical  analysis  by  Gre°;or,  in  1791,  tvho  had 
estracted  from  it  a  new  metallic  substance,  which 
Kirwan  distinguished  by  the  name  of  mettackiiM. 
Klaproth  ascertained  that  the  new  tnetal  of  Gregor 
iras  the  very  same  as  hia  own  titanium,  and  that 
menacbanite  is  a  compound  of  titanic  acid  and  oxide 
of  iron.  Thus  Mr.  Gregor  had  anticipated  him  in 
the  discovery  of  titanium,  though  he  was  not  aware 
of  the  circumstance  till  two  years  after  his  own  ex- 
periments had  been  published. 

In  the  year  1793  he  published  a  comparative  set 
of  experiments  on  the  nature  of  carbonates  of  barytea 
and  strontian;  showing  that  their  bases  are  twe 
different  earths,  and  not  the  same,  as  had  been 
hitherto  supposed  in  Germany.  This  was  the  first 
publication  on  strontian  which  appeared  on  the  con- 
tinent ;  and  Klaproth  seems  to  have  been  ignorant 
of  what  had  been  already  done  on  it  in  Great  Bri- 
tain ;  at  least,  he  takes  no  notice  of  it  in  his  paper, 
and  it  was  not  his  character  to  slur  over  the  labouM 
of  other  chemists,  when  they  were  known  to  htm. 
Strontian  was  first  mentioned  as  a  peculiar  earth  by 
Dr.  Crawford,  in  his  paper  on  the  medicinal  pro- 
perties of  the  muriate  of  barytes,  published  in  1798; 
The  experiments  on  which  he  founded  hia  opinioni 
were  made,  he  informs  ns,  by  Mr.  Cruikshanks.     A 


PaOGEESS   OF   ANALYTICAL  CHEMISTRY.      209 

paper  on  the  same  subject,  by  Dr.  Hope,  was  read 
to  the  Royal  Society  of  Edinburgh^  in  1793;  but 
they  had  been  begun  in  1791.  In  this  paper  Dr. 
Hope  establishes  the  peculiar  characters  of  strontian, 
and  describes  its  salts  with  much  precision. 

Klaproth  had  been  again  anticipated  in  his  expe* 
riments  on  strontian ;  but  he  could  not  have  become 
aware  of  this  till  afterwards.  For  his  own  experi- 
ments were  given  to  the  public  before  those  of  Dr. 
Hope. 

On  the  25th  of  January,  1798,  his  paper  on  the 
gold  ores  of  Transylvania  was  read  at  a  meeting  of 
the  Academy  of  Sciences  at  Berlin.  During  his 
analysis  of  these  ores,  he  detected  a  new  white  metal, 
to  which  he  gave  the  name  of  tellurium.  Of  this 
metal  he  describes  the  properties,  and  points  out  its 
distinguishing  characters. 

These  ores  had  been  examined  by  Muller,  of 
Reichenstein,  in  the  year  1782 ;  and  he  had  ex- 
tracted from  them  a  metal  which  he  considered  as 
differing  from  every  other.  Not  putting  full  confi- 
dence in  his  own  skill,  he  sent  a  specimen  of  his  new 
metal  to  Bergman,  requesting  him  to  examine  it  and 
give  his  opinion  respecting  its  nature.  All  that 
Bergman  did  was  to  show  that  the  metallic  body 
which  he  had  got  was  not  antimony,  to  which  alone, 
of  all  known  metals,  it  bore  any  resemblance.  It 
might  be  inferred  from  this,  that  Muller*s  metal  was 
new.  But  the  subject  was  lost  sight  of,  till  the  pub- 
lication of  Klaproth's  experiments,  in  1802,  recalled 
it  to  the  recollection  of  chemists.  Indeed,  Klaproth 
relates  all  that  Muller  had  done,  with  the  most  per- 
fect fairness. 

In  the  year  1804  he  published  the  analysis  of  a 
red-coloured  mineral,  from  Bastnas  in  Sweden,  which 
had  been  at  one  time  confounded  with  tungsten ; 
but  which  the  Elhuyarts  had  shown  to  contain  none 

VOL.  XI.  p 


I 


210  HIBTORT  OP  CnE«ISXB,Y. 

of  that  metal.  KI»proth  showed  that  it  contained  a 
new  substance,  as  one  of  its  constituents,  which  ho 
considered  as  a.  new  earth,  aod  which  he  called 
ochroita,  because  it  forms  coloured  salts  with  acids. 
Two  years  after,  another  analysis  of  the  same  mlDerat 
was  published  by  Berzeliua  and  Hisinger.  They 
considered  the  new  substance  which  the  miner^ 
contained  as  a  metallic  oxide,  and  to  the  unknown 
metallic  base  they  gave  the  name  of  cerium,  which 
has  been  adopted  by  chemists  in  preference  to  K1&- 
proth's  name.  The  characters  of  oxide  of  cerium 
given  by  Berzelius  and  Hisinger,  agree  with  those' 
given  by  Klapioth  to  ochroita,  in  all  the  essential 
circumstances.  Of  course  Klaproth  must  be  con- 
sidered as  the  discoverer  of  this  new  bctdy.  The 
distinction  between  earlh  and  raetaUic  oxide  is  now 
known  to  be  an  imaginary-  one.  All  the  substances 
formerly  called  earths  are,  in  fact,  metallic  oxides. 

Besides  these  new  substances,  which  he  detected 
by  his  own  labours,  he  repealed  the  analyses  of 
others,  and  confirmed  and  extended  the  discoreries 
they  had  made.  Thus,  when  Vauquelin  discovered 
the  new  earth  glticina,  in  the  emerald  and  beryl,  he 
repeated  the  analysis  of  these  minerals,  confirmed 
the  discovery  of  Vauquelin,  and  gave  a  detailed  ac- 
count of  the  characters  and  properties  of  glucina. 
Gadolin  had  discovered  another  new  earth  in  the 
mineral  called  gadolinite.  This  discovery  was  con- 
firmed by  the  analysis  of  Ekeherg,  who  distinguished 
the  new  earth  by  tlie  name  of  yttria.  Klaproth  im- 
mediately repeated  the  analysis  of  the  g'adoliniter 
confinned  the  results  of  Ekebei^'s  analyais,  and 
examined  and  described  the  properties  of  yllria. 

When  Dr.  Kennedy  discovered  soda  in  basalt, 
Klaproth  repeated  the  analysis  of  this  mineral,  and 
contirmed  the  results  obtained  by  the  Edinburgh 
analyst. 


PROGRESS  OF  ANALYTICAL  CHEMISTRY.     211 

BlU  it  would  occupy  too  much  room,  if  I  were  to 
miumerate  every  example  of  suck  conduct.  Who- 
ever  will  take  the  trouble  to  examine  the  different 
-volumes  of  the  Beitrage,  will  find  several  others  not 
less  striking  or  less  useful. 

The  service  which  Klaproth  performed  for  mine* 
ralogy,  in  Germany,  was  performed  equally  in  France 
by  the  important  labours  of  M.  Vauquelm.  It  was; 
in  France,  in  consequence  of  the  exertions  of  Rom6 
de  lisle,  and  the  mathematical  investigations  of  the 
Abbe  Hauy,  respecting  the  structure  of  crystals,, 
which  were  gradually  extended  over  the  whole  mine-- 
Tai  kingdom,  that  the  reform  in  mineralogy,  which 
has  now  become  in  some  measure  general,  originated.. 
Hauy  laid  it  down  as  a  first  principle,  that  every 
mineral  species  is  composed  of  the  same  constituents 
onited  in  the  same  proportion.  He  therefore  con- 
sidered  it  as  an  object  of  great  importance,  to  pro- 
cure an  exact  chemical  analysis  of  every  mineral 
species.  Hitherto  no  exact  analysis  of  minerals  had 
been  performed  by  French  chemists ;  for  Sage,  wha 
was  liie  chemical  mineralogist  connected  with  the 
aeademy,  satisfied  himself  with  ascertaining  the 
nature  of  the  constituents  of  minerals,  without  de- 
termining their  proportions.  But  Vauquelin  soon 
displayed  a  knowledge  of  the  mode  of  analysis,  and 
a  dexterity  in  the  use  of  the  apparatus  which  he  em- 
ployed, little  less  remarkable  than  that  of  Klaproth 
himself. 

Of  Vauquelin's  history  I  can  give  but  a  very  im- 
perfect account,  as  I  have  not  yet  had  an  opportu- 
nity of  seeing  any  particulars  of  his  life.  He  was  a 
peasant-boy  of  Normandy,  with  whom  Fourcroy  ac- 
cidentally met.  He  was  pleased  with  his  quickness 
and  parts,  and  delighted  with  the  honesty  and  in- 
tegrity of  his  character.  He  took  him  with  him  to 
Pans>  and  gave  him  the  superintendence  of  his  labo« 

p  ? 


I 

1 


r  S12  HIBTOHT  OF   CHEHISTKT. 

ratory.  His  chemical  knowledge  speedily  became 
grea.t,  and  his  practice  in  experinienling  gave  him 
8kiU  and  dexterity:  he  seems  to  have  performed 
all  the  analytical  experiments  which  Fourcroy  was 
in  the  habit  of  publishing.  He  speedily  became 
known  by  his  publications  and  discoveries.  When 
the  scientific  institutions  were  restored  or  established, 
after  the  death  of  Robespierre,  Vauquelin  became  a. 
member  of  the  Institute  and  chemist  to  the  School 
of  Mines.  He  was  made  also  assay-master  of  the 
Mint.  Hewas  a  professor  of  chemistry  in  Paris,  and 
delivered,  likewise,  private  lectures,  and  took  in  prac- 
tical pupils  into  his  laboratory.  His  laboratory  was 
of  considerable  size,  and  he  was  in  the  habit  of  pre- 
paring both  medicines  and  chemical  reagents  for 
sale.  It  was  he  chiefly  that  supplied  the  French 
chemists  with  phosphorus,  Sec,  which  cannot  be 
conveniently  prepared  in  a  laboratory  fitted  up  solely 
for  scientific  purposes. 

Vauquelin  was  by  far  the  most  industrious  of  all 
the  French  chemists,  and  has  published  more  papers, 
consisting  of  mineral,  vegetable,  and  animal  analyses, 
than  any  other  chemist  without  exception.  When 
he  had  the  charge  of  the  laboratory  of  the  School  of 
Mines,  Hauy  was  in  the  habit  of  giving  him  speci- 
mens of  all  the  different  minerals  which  he  wished 
analyzed.  The  analyses  were  conducted  with  con- 
summate skill,  and  we  owe  to  htm  a  great  number 
of  improvements  in  the  methods  of  analysis.  He  u 
not  entitled  to  the  same  credit  as  Klaproth,  because 
he  had  the  advant^e  of  many  analyses  of  Klaproth 
to  serve  him  as  a  guide.  But  he  hail  no  model  be- 
fore him  in  France ;  and  both  the  apparatus  used  by 
him,  and  the  reagents  which  he  employed,  were  of 
his  own  contrivance  and  preparation.  I  have  some- 
times suspected  that  his  reagents  were  not  always 
Tery  pure  ;  but  I  believe  the  true  reason  of  the  un- 


PROGRESa   OF   ANALYTICAL   CREMISTRT.    213 

^tisfactory  nature  of  many  of  his  analyses,  is  the 
:li&d  choice  made  of  the  specimens  selected  for  ana- 
lyeia.  It  is  obvious  from  his  papers,  that  Vauquelin 
Imas  not  a  mineralo^st ;  for  he  never  attempts  a  de- 
.■cription  of  the  mineral  which  he  subjects  to  analysis, 
.■satisfying  himself  with  the  specimen  put  into  his 
!)iands  by  Hauy,  Where  that  specimen  was  pure,  as 
^was  the  case  with  emerald  and  beryl,  his  analysis  is 
^*ery  good ;  but  when  the  specimen  was  impure  or 
iil-chosen,  then  the  result  obtained  could  not  convey 
S  just  notion  of  the  constituents  of  the  mineral.  That 
;Hany  would  not  be  very  difficult  to  please  in  his 
•election  of  specimens,  1  think  myself  entitled  to 
-iofer  from  the  specimens  of  minerals  contained  in 
Ilia  own  cabinet,  many  of  which  were  by  no  means 
■•ell  selected.  I  think,  therefore,  that  the  numerous 
Analyses  published  by  Vauquelin,  in  which  the  con- 
stituents assigned  by  him  are  not  those,  or,  at  least, 
not  in  the  same  proportions,  as  have  been  found  by 
succeeding  analysts,  are  to  be  ascribed,  not  to  errors 
in  the  analysis,  which,  on  the  contrary,  he  always 
performed  carefully,  and  with  the  requisite  attention 
to  precision,  but  to  the  bad  selection  of  specimens 
put  into  his  hand  by  Hauy,  or  those  other  indviduals 
who  furnished  him  with  the  specimens  which  he  em- 
ployed in  his  analyses.  This  circumstance  is  very 
much  to  be  deplored ;  because  it  puts  it  out  of  our 
power  to  confide  in  an  analysis  of  Vauquelin,  till 
it  has  been  repeated  and  confirmed  by  somebody 
else. 

Vauquelin  not  only  improved  the  analytic^ 
methods,  and  reduced  the  art  to  a  greater  degree  of 
implicity  and  precision,  but  he  discovered,  likewise, 
lew  elementary  bodies. 
The  red  lead  ore  of  Siberia  had  early  drawn  the 
ttention  of  chemists,  on  account  of  its  beauty ;  and 
ious    attempts  had    been   made   to   analyze 


iyze  it..  j 


I 


HI9T0HT  or  CHCMISTKT. 

Among  othere,  Vaiiqueiin  tried  his  skill  upon  it,  is 
'd  concert  with  M.  Macqcait,  who  had  bron^it 
specimens  of  it  from  Siberia;  but  at  that  time  he  did 
not  succeed  in  detennining  the  nature  of  tbe  acid 
with  which  the  oxide  of  lead  was  combined  in  it. 
He  examined  it  again  m  1797.  and  now  succeeded 
in  acpBrating  an  acid  to  which,  from  tbe  beautifol 
coloured  salts  which  it  forms,  he  gave  the  name  of 
chromic.  He  determined  the  properties  of  this  acid, 
Rnd  showed  that  its  basis  was  a  new  metal  to  which 
he  ga»e  the  name  of  ckrwaiam.  He  succeeded  in 
obtaining  this  metal  in  a  separate  state,  and  showed 
that  its  protoxide  is  an  exceedingly  beaurifiil  green 
powder.  This  discovery  lias  been  of  very  great  im- 
portance to  different  branches  of  manufacture  in 
this  country.  The  green  oxide  is  used  pretty  esten- 
srvely  in  painting  green  on  porcelain.  It  constitutei 
an  exceedingly  beautiful  green  pigment,  very  per- 
manent, and  easily  applied.  The  chromic  acid,  when 
combined  with  oxide  of  lead,  fonns  either  a  yellow 
or  an  orange  colour  upon  cotton  cloth,  both  very 
fixed  and  exceedingly  beautiful  colours.  In  tht^ 
vay  it  is  extensively  used  by  the  calico-printers;  and 
the  bichromate  of  potash  is  prepared,  in  a  crystalline 
form,  to  a  very  constderableamount,  both  in  Gla^ow 
and  Lancashire,  and  doubtless  in  other  places. 

Vauquelin  was  requested  by  Hauy  to  analyze  the 
beryl,  a  beautiful  light-green  mineral,  crystallized  in 
sis'sided  prisms,  which  occurs  not  unfrequently  in 
granite  rocks,  especially  in  Siberia.  He  found  it  ta 
consist  chiefly  of  silica,  united  to  alumina,  and  to 
another  earthy  body,  very  like  alumina  in  many  of 
its  properties,  but  differing  in  others.  To  this  new 
earth  he  gave  the  name  of  gluciva,  on  account  of 
the  sweet  taste  of  its  salts;  a  name  not  very  appro- 
priate, as  alumina,  yttria,  lead,  protoxide  of  chro- 
mium, and  even  protoxide  of  iron,  form  salts  which 


PROGRESS   OF  ANALYTICAL  CHEMISTRY.     215 

are  distinguished  by  a  sweet  taste  likewise.  This 
discovery  of  glucina  confers  honour  on  Vauquelin, 
as  it  shows  the  care  with  which  his  analyses  must 
have  been  conducted.  A  careless  experimenter 
might  easily  have  confounded  glucina  with  alumina. 
Vauquelin's  mode  of  distinguishing  them  was,  to  add 
sulphate  of  potash  to  their  solution  in  sulphuric  acid 
If  the  earth  in  solution  was  alumina,  crystals  of  alum 
would  form  in  the  course  of  a  short  time ;  but  if  the 
earth  was  glucina,  no  such  crystals  would  make  their 
appearance,  alumina  being  the  basis  of  alum,  and 
not  glucina.  He  showed,  too,  that  glucina  is  easily 
dissolved  in  a  solution  of  carbonate  of  ammonia, 
while  alumina  is  not  sensibly  taken  up  by  that  solu- 
tion. 

Vauquelin  died  in  1829,  ^fter  having  reached  a 
good  old  age.  His  character  was  of  the  very  best 
kind,  and  his  conduct  had  always  been  most  ex- 
emplary. He  never  interfered  with  politics,  and 
steered  his  way  through  the  bloody  period  of  the  re- 
*v©lution,  uncontaminated  by  the  vices  or  violence  of 
any  party,  and  respected  and  esteemed  by  every 
person. 

Mr.  Chenevix  deserves  also  to  be  mentioned  as  an 
improver  of  analytical  chemistry.  He  was  an  Irish 
gentleman,  who  happened  to  be  in  Paris  during  the 
reign  of  terror,  and  was  thrown  into  prison  and  put 
into  the  same  apartment  with  several  French  che- 
mists, whose  whole  conversation  turned  upon  chemi- 
cal subjects.  He  caught  the  infection,  and,  after 
getting  out  of  prison,  began  to  study  the  subject 
with  much  energy  and  success,  and  soon  distin- 
guished himself  as  an  analytical  chemist. 

His  analysis  of  corundum  and  sapphire,  and  his 
observations  on  the  affinity  between  magnesia  and 
silica,  are  valuable,  and  led  to  considerable  improve- 
ments in  the  method  of  analysis.     His  analyses  of 


SI6  STSTOBT  OF  CBEHISTBT.  ' 

the  arseniates  of  copper,  though  he  demonstrated 
that  several  different  species  exist,  are  not  so  much 
to  be  depended  on ;  because  his  method  of  sepa- 
rating  and  estimating  the  quantity  of  arsenic  acid  is 
not  good.  This  difficult  branch  of  analysis  was  DOt 
fully  understood  till  afterwards. 

Chenevix  was  for  several  years  a  most  laborious 
and  meritorious  chemical  experimenter-  It  is  much 
to  be  regretted  that  he  should  have  been  induced,  in 
consequence  of  the  mistake  into  which  he  fell  re- 
specting palladium,  to  abandon  chemistry  altoge- 
ther. Palladium  was  originally  made  known  to  the 
fiublic  by  an  anonymous  handbill  which  was  circa- 
ated  in  London,  announcing  that  palladium,  or  new 
silver,  was  on  sale  at  Mrs.  Forster's,  and  describing 
its  properties.  Chenevix,  in  consequence  of  the 
unusual  way  in  which  the  discovery  was  announced, 
naturally  considered  it  as  an  imposition  on  the  pub- 
lic. He  went  to  Mrs.  Porster's,  and  purchased  the 
whole  palladium  in  her  possession,  and  set  about 
examining  it,  prepossessed  with  the  idea  that  it  was  an 
alloy  of  some  two  known  metals.  After  a  laborious 
set  of  experiments,  he  considered  that  he  had  ascer* 
tained  it  to  be  a  compound  of  platinum  and  mercury, 
or  an  amalgam  of  platinum  made  in  a  peculiar  way^ 
which  he  describes.  This  paper  was  read  at  a  meet- 
ing of  the  Royal  Society  by  Dr.  WoUaston,  who  was 
secretary,  and  afterwards  published  in  their  Transac- 
tions. Soon  after  this  publication,  another  anony- 
mous handbill  was  circulated,  offering  a  considera-  ' 
ble  price  for  every  grain  of  palladium  made  by  Mr. 
Chenevix's  process,  or  by  any  other  process  what- 
ever. No  person  appearing  to  claim  the  money  thus 
offered,  Dr.  WoUaston,  about  a  year  after,  in  a 
paper  read  to  the  Royal  Society,  acknowledged 
himself  to  have  been  the  discoverer  of  palladium, 
and  related  the  process  by  which  he  had  obtained  it 


PROGRESS   OF  ANALYTICAL   CHEMISTRY.      217 

from  the  solution  of  crude  platina  in  aqua  regia. 
There  could  be  no  doubt  after  this,  that  palladium 
was  a  peculiar  metal,  and  that  Cheiievix,  in  his  ex- 
periments, had  fallen  into  some  mistake,  probably 
by  inadvertently  employing  a  solution  of  palladium, 
instead  of  a  solution  of  hia  amalgam  of  platinum  ; 
and  thus  giving  the  properties  of  the  one  solution  to 
the  other.  It  is  very  much  to  be  regretted,  that 
Dr.  Wollaston  allowed  Mr.  Chenevix's  paper  to  be 
printed,  without  informing  him,  ia  the  first  place,  of 
the  true  history  of  palladium  :  and  I  think  that  if  he 
had  been  aware  of  the  had  consequences  that  were 
to  follow,  and  that  it  would  ultimately  occasion  the 
loss  of  Mr.  Chenevix  to  the  science,  he  would  have 
acted  in  a  different  manner.  1  have  more  than  once 
conversed  with  Dr.  Wollaston  on  the  subject,  and  he 
assured  me  that  he  did  every  thing  that  he  could  do, 
short  of  betraying  his  secret,  to  prevent  Mr.  Chenevix 
from  publishing  his  paper;  that  he  had  called  upon, 
and  assured  him,  that  he  himself  had  attempted  his 
process  without  being  able  to  succeed,  and  that  he 
was  satisfied  that  he  had  fallen  into  some  mistake. 
As  Mr.  Chenevix  still  persisted  in  his  conviction  of 
the  accuracy  of  his  own  experiments  after  repeated 
warnings,  perhaps  it  is  not  very  surprising  that  Dr. 
Wollaston  allowed  him  to  publish  his  paper,  though ; 
had  he  been  aware  of  the  consequences  to  their  full 
extent,  I  am  persuaded  that  he  would  not  have 
done  so.  It  comes  to  be  a  question  whether,  had 
Dr.  WollEiston  informed  him  of  the  whole  secret, 
Mr.  Chenevix  would  have  been  convinced. 

Another  chemist,  to  whom  the  art  of  analyzing 
minerals  lies  under  great  obligations,  is  Dr.  Frederick 
Stroraeyer,  professor  of  chemistry  and  pharmacy,  ia 
the  University  of  Gottingen.  He  was  originally  a 
botanist,  and  only  turned  his  attention  to  chemistry 
when  he  had  the  offer  of  the  chemical  chair  at  Gioti. 


tingeii.  He  then  went  to  Paris,  and  studied  prac^ 
cal  chemistry  for  some  years  in  Vauquelin's  labora- 
tory. He  has  devoted  most  of  hU  attention  to  the 
analysis  of  minerals ;  and  in  the  year  1821  published 
avoluroe  of  analyses  under  the  title  of  "  Untersuchun- 
gen  iiber  die  Mischung  der  Mineralkorper  and 
anderer  damit  verwandten  Subatanzen."  It  contains 
thirty  analyses,  which  constitute  perfect  models  of' 
analytical  sao^city  and  accuracy.  After  Rlaproth's 
Beitrage,  no  book  can  be  named  more  highly  do- 
Berving  the  study  of  the  analytical  cliemiat  than 
Stromeyer's  Untersuchungeu . 

The  first  paper  in  this  work  contains  the  anatysii 
of  arragonite.  Chemists  had  not  been  able  to  dis- 
cover any  difference  in.  the  chemical  constitution  (rf 
arragonite  and  calcareous  spar,  both  being  coot- 
pounds  of 

Lime 3'5 

Carbonic  acid  .  2-75 
Tet  the  minerals  differ  from  each  other  in  their  hani- 
ness,  specific  gravity,  and  in  the  shape  of  their  crys- 
tals. Many  attempts  had  been  made  to  account  fix 
this  difference  in  characters  between  these  twomtruH 
lals,  but  in  vain.  Mr.  Holme  showed  that  arrago- 
niti!  contained  about  one  per  cent,  of  water,  whicli 
is  wanting  in  calcareous  spar ;  and  that  when  ana». 
gonite  is  heated,  it  crumbles  into  powder,  which  it 
not  the  case  with  calcareous  spar.  But  it  is  not  easy 
to  conceive  how  the  addition  of  one  per  cent,  of  war 
ter  should  increase  the  specific  gravity  and  the  hard- 
nesa,  and  quite  alter  the  shape  of  the  crystals  of 
calcareous  spar.  Stromeyer  made  a  vast  number  of' 
esperiments  upon  arragonite,  with  very  great  care, 
and  the  result  was,  that  the  arragonite  from  Bastenei^  ' 
near  Dax,  in  the  department  of  Landes,  and  Itkeviw 
that  from  Molina,  in  Arragon,  was  a  compound  of 


PROGaiXS  OF  ANALYTICAL   CHEMISTRY.      319 

96  carbonate  of  lime 
4  carbonate  of  strontian. 
This  amounts  to  about  thirty-five  atoms  of  carbonate 
<}f  lime,  and  one  atom  of  carbonate  of  strontian. 
Now  as  the  hardness  and  specific  gravity  of  car- 
bonate of  strontian  is  greater  than  that  of  carbonate 
of  lime,  we  can  see  a  reason  why  arragonite  should 
be  heavier  and  harder  than  calcareous  spar.  M(»e 
late  researches  upon  different  varieties  of  arragonite 
•enabled  him  to  ascertain  that  this  inineral  exists 
with  different  proportions  of  carbonate  of  strontian. 
Some  varieties  contain  only  2  per  cent.,  some  only 
1  per  cent.,  and  some  only  0*75,  or  even  0*5  per 
•cent. ;  but  he  found  no  specimen  among  the  great 
miimber  which  he  analyzed  totally  destitute  of  carbo- 
jiate  of  strontian.  It  is  true  that  Vauquehna  fterwards 
examined  several  varieties  in  which  he  could  detect 
no  strontian  whatever;  but  as  Vauquelin's  mine- 
nlogical  knowledge  was  very  deficient,  it  comes  to 
lie  a  question,  whether  the  minerals  analyzed  by  him 
"were  really  arragonites,  or  only  varieties  of  calcaie- 
<nui  spar. 

To  Professor  Stromeyer  we  are  likewise  indebteil 
Ar  the  discovery  of  the  new  metal  called  cadmium; 
and  the  discovery  ^oes  great  credit  to  his  sagacity 
mad  analytical  skill.  He  is  inspector-general  of  the 
apothecaries  for  the  kingdom  of  Hanover.  While 
discharging  the  duties  ai  his  office  at  Hildesheim, 
in  the  year  1817,  he  found  that  the  carbonate  of 
mac  had  been  substituted  for  the  oxide  of  zinc,  or- 
dered in  the  Hanoverian  Phaimacopceia.  This  cap- 
IxMiate  of  zinc  was  manufactured  at  Salzgitter.  On 
inquiry  he  learned  from  Mr.  Jest,  who  manaiged  that 
iBanufactory,  that  they  had  been  obliged  to  substi- 
-tnte  the  carbonate  for  the  oxide  of  zinc,  because  the 
<nide  had  a  yellow  colour  which  rendered  it  unsale- 
afaie.    On  examining  this  oxide,  StroBoeyer  found 


I 

I 


HiflTOft?  or  CHEUiaraY. 

that  it  owed  its  yellow  colour  to  the  presence  of  ft 
small  quantity  of  the  oxide  of  a  new  metal,  which  he 
separated,  reduced,  and  examined,  and  to  which  he 
gave  the  name  of  cadmium,  because  it  occurs  usually 
associated  with  zinc.  The  quantity  of  cadmium 
which  he  was  able  to  obtain  from  this  oxide  of  zinc 
was  but  small.  A  fortunate  circumstance,  however, 
supplied  him  with  an  additional  quantity,  and  en- 
abled him  to  carry  his  examination  of  cadmium  to  k 
still  greater  length.  During;  the  apothecaries' visi- 
tation in  the  state  of  Magdeburg,  there  was  found, 
in  the  possession  of  several  apothecaries,  a  prepct- 
ration  of  zinc  from  Silesia,  made  in  Hermann's  la- 
boratory at  Schonebeck,  which  was  confiscated  ob 
the  supposition  that  it  contained  arsenic,  because  iti 
solution  gave  a  yellow  precipitate  with  sulphuretted 
hydrogen,  which  was  considered  as  orpiment.  This 
statement  could  not  be  indifterent  to  Mr.  Hermann, 
as  it  affected  the  credit  of  his  manufactory;  espe- 
cially as  the  medicinal  counsellor,  Roloff,  who  bad 
assisted  at  the  visitation,  had  drawn  up  a  statement  ' 
of  the  circumstances  which  occasioned  the  confi»- 
cation,  and  caused  it  to  be  published  in  Hofeland's 
Medical  Journal.  He  subjected  the  suspected  oxide 
to  a  careful  examination ;  but  he  could  not  succeed 
in  detecting  any  arsenic  in  it.  He  then  requested 
RolofT  to  repeat  his  experiments.  This  he  did ;  and 
now  perceived  that  the  precipitate,  which  be  had  ' 
taken  for  orpiment,  was  not  ao  in  reality,  but  owed  i 
ita  existence  to  the  presence  of  another  metallic 
oxide,  different  from  arsenic  and  probably  new. 
Specimens  of  this  oxide  of  zinc,  and  of  the  yellow 
precipitate,  were  sent  to  Stromeyer  for  examination, 
who  readily  recognised  the  presence  of  cadmium, 
and  was  able  to  extract  from  it  a  considerable  quan- 
tity of  that  metal. 

It  is  now  nine  years  since  the  first  volume  of  the 


FROGKESS   OF   ATtAlYTICAr    CHEMISTSY.     221 

Untersuchungen  was  published.  All  those  who 
are  interested  in  analytical  chemistry  are  anxious 
for  the  continuance  of  that  admirable  work.  By 
this  time  he  must  have  collected  ample  materials  for 
an  additional  volume;  and  it  could  not  hut  add  con- 
siderably to  a.  reputation  already  deservedly  high. 

There  is  no  living  chemist,  to  whom  analytical 
chemistry  lies  under  greater  obligations  than  to  Ber- 
zelius,  whether  we  consider  the  number  or  the  ex- 
actness of  the  analyses  which  he  has  made. 

Jacob  Berzelius  was  educated  at  Upsala,  when 
Professor  Afeelius,  a  nephew  of  Bergman,  filled  the 
chemical  chair,  and  Ekebei^  was  magister  docens 
in  chemistry.  Afzelius  began  his  chemical  career 
with  considerable  eclat,  his  paper  on  sulphate  of 
barytes  being  possessed  of  very  considerable  merit. 
But  he  is  said  to  have  soon  lost  his  health,  and  to 
have  sunk,  in  consequence,  into  listless  inactivity. 

Andrew  Gustavus  Ekeberg  was  bom  in  Stockholm, 
on  the  16th  of  January,  1767.  His  father  was  a 
captain  tn  the  Swedish  navy.  He  was  educated  at 
Calmar  ;  and  in  1784  went  to  Upsala,  where  he  de- 
voted himself  chiefly  to  the  study  of  mathematics. 
He  took  his  degree  in  1788,  when  he  wrote  a  thesis 
"  DeOleisSeminumexpressis."  In  1789  he  went  to 
Berlin  ;  and  on  his  return,  in  1790,  he  gave  a  spe- 
cimen of  his  poetical  talents,  by  publishing  a  poem 
entitled  "Tal  ofver  Fteden emellan  Sverige  och  Ryas- 
land"  (Discourse  about  the  Peace  between  Sw^en 
and  Russia).  After  this  he  turned  his  attention  to 
chemistry;  and  in  1794  was  made  chemi/B  docens. 
In  this  situation  he  continued  till  181^,  when  he 
died  on  the  11th  of  February.  He  had  been  ia 
such  bad  health  for  some  time  before  his  death,  as 
to  be  quite  unable  to  discharge  the  duties  of  his 
situation.  He  published  but  little,  and  that  little 
consisted  almost  entirely  of  chemical  analyses. 


r  «r  cvBxiiTKT. 


\ 
I 


he  ■11*. »  paper  on  dv  aaabr***  ^^^  ^t>^  opax,  da 
obfect  «f  wbch  va»  to  e^laai  Uaprotii's  method 
M  iNiMJiBH,  kwd  ■toBjbodia. 

He  Bade  ui  auljs*  of  gadc^Bitie,  and  detanuned 
Ae  dwical  profiMtia  of  ytliM.  Onring  these  ex- 
ftcnwaO  he  dtKovered  tbK  new  meul  to  nhich  he 
gasc  iIk  nanw  of  taafofacM,  Ntd  wtnd)  Dr.  WoUasU» 
aAiRmds  dtowed  to  be  tbe  saMK  with  the  «afainM»a 
of  Mr.  Hatchett-  lie  also  pabtished  an  analysis  of 
the  antootalitc,  of  an  ore  of  titaoimn,  and  of  the 
minenJ  water  of  Hedevi.  io  this  last  anstlysb  h« 
was  assisted  by  Beirebns,  who  was  then  quite  un- 
known to  the  chemical  worid. 

Berzelius  has  been  much  more  industrious  than 
bis  chemical  contemporaries  at  Upsala.  His  first 
pnblicatiou  was  a  work,  in  two  Tolumes  on  on  i  mat 
ch«:mistry,  chiefly  a  compilation,  with  the  exceptioB 
of  his  experiments  on  the  analysis  of  blood,  which 
coDstttute  an  introduction  to  the  second  volume. 
This  book  was  published  in  1306  and  I80S.  Id  thft 
year  1806  he  and  Hismger  be^an  a  periodical  woi^, 
entitled  "Afhandlingar  1  Fysik,  Kemi  och  Mine- 
ralogi,"  of  which  sis  volumes  in  all  were  published,  the 
last  in  1818.  In  this  work  there  occur  foTty-seven 
papers  by  EerzcUus,  some  of  them  of  ^jeat  length 
and  importance,  which  will  be  noticed  afterwards; 
but  by  far  the  greatest  part  of  them  consist  of  mi- 
neral analyses.  We  have  the  analysis  of  cerium  by 
Hisinger  and  Berzelius,  together  with  an  account  of 
the  chemical  characters  of  the  two  oxides  of  cerimn. 
In  the  fourth  volume  be  gives  us  a  new  chemical  ar- 
rajigement  of  minerals,  founded  on  the  suppositioa 
that  they  are  all  chemical  compounds  in  definit* 
proportions.  Mr.  Smithson  had  thrown  out  the 
opinion  that  silica  is  an  add :  which  opinion  was 
taken  up  by  BerzeUus,  who  showed,  by  deciah-e  ex- 


FROGHESS  OF  ASALTTICAI.  CHEMISTRY.     223 

periments,  that  it  enters  into  definite  combinatians 
with  most  of  the  bases.  This  happy  idea  enabled 
him  to  show,  that  most  of  the  stony  minerals  are 
definite  compounds  of  silica,  with  certain  earths  or 
metallic  osides.  This  system  has  undei^oae  several 
modificationg  since  he  first  gave  it  to  the  world ;  and 
1  think  it  more  than  doubtful  whether  his  last  cor- 
rection of  it,  publislied  in  the  Memoirs  of  the  Stock- 
holm Academy,  for  1824,  be  quite  as  good  as  the 
first,  wbich  he  published  in  1815.  The  first  arrange- 
ment was  founded  on  the  bases,  the  last  upon  the 
acids  with  which  these  bases  are  united.  He  was 
induced  to  alter  his  arrangement,  in  consequence  of 
Mitcherlich's  doctrine  of  isomorphism  But  1  con- 
ceive that  the  alterations  which  exist  in  the  consti- 
tutbn  of  pyroxene,  amphibole,  garnet,  and  a  few 
other  minerals,  might  be  explained  in  a  very  sirople 
way,  without  admitting  this  doctrine  of  isomorphism; 
which  if  it  do  not,  like  Berthollet'a  hypothesis  of 
ittdefinite  combinations,  overturn  the  whole  princi- 
ples of  chemistry,  seems  scarcely  consistent  with 
what  we  know  respecting  chemical  combination. 

In  the  same  volume  we  have  a  set  of  experiments 
on  columbium,  and  its  characters  when  reduced  to 
the  metallic  state  ;  together  with  an  analysis  of  all 
the  minerals  containing  columbicum  that  were  known 
in  the  year  1815. 

We  iiave  also  a  new  examination  of  the  properties 
of  yttria,  together  with  the  analysis  of  a  number  of 
minerals,  containing  both  cerium  and  yttria,  and 
the  mode  of  separating  these  two  substances  from 
each  other  by  means  of  sulphate  of  potash. 

In  the  sixth  volume  we  have  his  discovery  of  sele- 
nium, with  an  account  of  selenic  acid,  and  the  dil- 
feient  compounds  which  it  forms. 

Sbce  the  year  1818  Ms  papers  have  been  all  pub- 
Ikbed  in  the  Memoirs  of  the  Stockholm  Academy; 


I 


I 


324  HUTOKY   OF  CHEIiIISTaT. 

but  he  has  taken  care  to  have  translations  of  them  ' 
inserted  into  Poggensdorf's  Annalen,  and  the  An- 
nales  de  Chimie  et  de  Physique. 

In  the  Stockholm  Meraoire,  for  1819,  we  have  his 
analysis  of  wavellite,  showing;  that  this  minerEd  is  a 
hydrous  phosphate  of  alumina.  The  same  analysis 
and  discovery  had  been  made  by  Fuchs,  who  pub- 
lished his  results  in  1818;  but  probably  Berzelius 
had  not  seen  the  paper;  at  least  be  takes  no  notice 
of  it.  We  have  also  in  the  same  volume  his  analysis 
of  euclase,  of  silicate  of  zinc,  and  hia  paper  on  the 
pnissiates. 

In  the  Memoirs  for  1820  we  have,  besides  three 
others,  his  paper  on  the  mode  of  analyzing  the  ores 
of  nickel.  In  the  Memoirs  for  1821  we  have  hia 
paper  on  the  alkaline  sulphurets,  and  his  analysis  of 
achmite.  The  specimen  selected  for  this  analysis 
was  probably  impure  ;  for  two  snccessive  analyses 
of  it,  made  in  ray  laboratory  by  Captain  Lehunt, 
gave  a  considerable  difference  in  the  proportion  of 
the  constituents,  and  a  different  formula  for  the 
composition  than  that  resulting  from  the  constituents 
found  by  Berzelius. 

In  the  Memoirs  for  1822  we  have  his  analysis  of 
the  mineral  waters  of  Carlsbad.  In  1823  he  pub- 
lished hia  experiments  on  uranium,  which  were  meant 
as  a  confirmation  and  extension  of  the  examinatt(»i 
of  this  substance  previously  made  by  Arfvedson.  In 
the  same  year  appeared  his  experiments  on  fluoric 
acid  and  its  combinations,  constituting  one  of  the 
most  curious  and  important  of  all  the  numerous  ad- 
ditions which  he  has  made  to  analytical  chemistry. 
In  1824  we  have  his  analysis  of  phosphate  of  yttriaf 
a  mineral  found  in  Norway  ;  of  polymignite,  a  mi- 
neral from  the  neighbourhood  of  Chriatiania,  where- ' 
it  occurs  in  the  zircon  sienite,  and  remarkable  for  ' 
the  great  number  of  bases  which  it  contains  united 


PROGRBSSf  OF  A^ALTTUCAI*  CHEMISTRY.      225 

to  titanic  acid;  namely,  zirconia,  oxide  of  iron,  lime, 
oxide  of  manganese,  oxide  of  cerium,  and  yttria. 
We  have  also  his  analysis  of  arseniate  of  iron,  from 
Brazil  and  from  Cornwall;  and  of  ohabasite  from 
Ferro.  In  this  last  analysis  he  mentions  chabasites 
from  Scotland,  containing  soda  instead  of  lime. 
The  only  chabasites  in  Scotland,  that  I  know  of, 
occur  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Glasgow ;  and  in 
none  of  these  have  I  found  any  soda.  But  I  have 
found  soda  instead  of  lime  in  chabasites  from  the 
north  of  Ireland,  always  crystallized  in  the  form  to 
which  Hauy  has  given  the  name  of  trirhomboidale, 
I  think,  therefore,  that  the  chabasites  analyzed  by 
Arfvedson,  to  which  Berzelius  refers,  must  have 
been  from  Ireland,  and  not  from  Scotland ;  and 
I  think  it  may  be  a  question  whether,  this  form  of 
crystal,  if  it  should  always  be  found  to  contain  soda 
instead  of  lime,  ought  not  to  constitute  a  peculiar 
species. 

In  1826  we  have  his  very  elaborate  and  valuable 
paper  on  sulphur  salts.  In  this  paper  he  shows  that 
Bulphur  is  capable  of  combining  with  bodies,  in  the 
same  way  as  oxygen,  and  of  converting  the  acidi- 
fiable  bases  into  acids,  and  the  alkalifiable  bases 
into  alkalies.  These  sulphur  acids  and  alkalies 
unite  with  each  other,  and  form  a  new  class  of  saline 
bodies,  which.-  may  be  distinguished  by  the  name  of 
sulphur  salts.  This  subject  has  been  since  carried 
a^good  deal  further  by  M.  H.  Rose,  who  has  by 
means  of  it  thrown  much  light  on  some  mineral 
species  hitherto  quite  inexplicable.  Thus,  what  is 
called  nickel  glance,  is  a  sulphur  salt  of  nickel. 
Tlie  acid  is  a  compound  of  sulphur  and  arsenic,  the 
base  a*  compound  of  sulphur  and  nickel.  Its  com- 
position may  be.represented  thus : 

I  atom  disulphide  of  arsenic 

I  atom,  disulphide  of  nickel. 
Ba.likemanner.glance  cobalt  is    . 

VOL.  II.  Q 


In 

k  ' 

■ 

H      cii 


TIISTORy   OJ 

1  atom  disulphide  of  arsenic 

1  atom  disulphide  of  nickel. 
Ziiikcnite  ie  composed  of 

3  atoms  sulphide  of  antimony 

1  atom  sulpliide  of  lead  ; 
and  jiunesonite  of 

24  atoms  sulphide  of  antimony 

1  atom  sulphide  of  lead, 
l-'ealher  ore  of  antimony,   hitherto    confounded 
with  Bulphuret  of  antimony,  is  a  compound  of 

5  atoms  sulphide  of  antimony 

3  atoms  sulphide  of  lead.  | 

Gray  copper  ore,  which  has  hitherto  appeared  so 
difficult  to  be  reduced  to  any  thing  like  regularity,    ' 
in  composed  of  ' 

1  atom  sulphide  of  antimony  or  arsenic 

2  atoms  sulphide  of  copper  or  silver. 
Dark  red  silver  ore  is  composed  of 

1  atom  sulphide  of  antimony 

1  atom  sulphide  of  silver  ; 

and  light  red  silver  ore  of  ' 

2  atoms  sesquisulphide  of  arsenic 

3  atoms  sulphide  of  silver, 

Tlicse  specimens  show  how  much  light  the  doc- 
trine of  sulphur  salts  has  thrown  on  the  mineral    , 
kingdom. 

In  1828  ho  published  his  experimental  investi- 
gation of  the  cliaractera  and  compounds  of  palla- 
dium, rhodium,  osmium,  aud  iridium;  and  upon 
the  mode  of  analyzing  the  di£ferent_ores  of  platinum. 

One  of  the  greatest  improvemeats  which  Berzelius 
lias  introduced  into  analytical  chemistry,  is  his  mods 
of  separating  those  bodies  which  became  acid  when 
unitf^  to  oxygen,  as  sulphur,  selenium,  arsenic,  &c., 
those  that  become  alkaline,  as  copper,  lead, 
silver.  &c.  His  method  is  to  put  the  alloy  or  ore 
ilyied  into  a  glass  tube,  and  to  pass  over  it  a 
current  of  dry  chlorine  gas,  while  (he  powder  in  the 


t 


I 


PROGEESS   OF   ANAITTICAL   CHEMISTRY.      227 

tube  is  heated  by  a  lamp.  The  acidifiable  bodies 
are  volatile,  and  pass  over  along  the  tube  into  a  ves- 
sel of  water  placed  to  receive  them,  while  the  alka- 
lifiable  bodies  remain  fixed  in  the  tube.  This  mode 
of  analysis  has  been  considerably  improved  by  Rose, 
■who  availed  himself  of  it  in  his  analysis  of  gray  cop- 
per ore,  and  other  similar  compounds. 

Analytical  chemistry  lies  under  obligations  to 
Berzelius,  not  merely  for  what  he  has  done  himself, 
but  for  what  has  been  done  by  those  pupils  who  were 
educated  in  his  laboratory.  Bonsdorf,  Nordenskiiild, 
C.  G.  Gmelin,  Rose,  Wbhler,  Arfvedsou,  have 
^ivea  us  some  of  the  finest  examples  of  analytical 
MveEtigations  with  which  the  science  is  furnished. 
"  P.  A.  Von  Bonsdorf  was  a  professor  of  Abo,  and 
^fter  that  university  was  burnt  down,  he  moved  to 
tfae  new  locality  in  which  it  was  planted  by  the 
Russian  government.  His  analysis  of  the  minerals 
which  crystallize  in  the  form  of  the  amphibole,  con- 
stitutes a  model  for  the  young  analysts  to  study, 
whether  we  consider  the  precision  of  the  analyses,  or 
the  methods  by  which  tlie  different  constituents 
were  separated  and  estimated.  His  analysis  of  red 
silver  ore  first  demonstrated  that  the  metals  in  it 
were  not  in  the  stale  of  oxides.  The  nature  of  the 
combination  was  first  completely  explained  by  Rose, 
after  Berzelius's  paper  on  the  sulphur  salts  had 
mode  its  appearance.  His  paper  on  the  acid  pro- 
perties of  several  of  the  chlorides,  has  served  con- 
siderably to  extend  and  to  rectify  the  views  first 
proposed  by  Berzeliusrespecting  the  different  classes 
of  salts. 

Nils  Nordenskiold  is  superintendent  of  the  mines 
in  Finland  ;  his  "  Bidrag  till  narmare  kannedom  af 
Fmland's  Mineralieroch  Geognosie"  was  published 
in  1820.  It  contains  a  description  and  analysis  of 
fourteen  species  of  Lapland  minerals,  several  of  them 
new,  and  all  ofthem  interesting-.  The  analyses  were 
q2 


4liMrrrjiM  '•JusniflC.  He  :&»  fxerniEA 
i^V*^t  ^jMmuKTT  vith.  indemtieabie 
xtvyf)?!^  •!•  vitSi.  %  3nctis3aiis  ^imioer  it 

pvr'ViKiMat.  Off  tke  CRS  of  niannini   if  £Eanr  coa 
<»f*,  ''/  tti-y-sr  'ijiu^y^  of  red  sihc 
f<^f>Mte;  te.r  BUty  he  oKntkaed 
I  >r-i^  h«  jpAbikihcd  a.  v^olnme  <hi  asaHikal 
wt»i^i»  mr/j  hir  tkt  vuMt  eofspkte  and  TaiKibfe 
f4  t}t^,  kiwi  that  bas  ludicrtD  appened ;  and 
t//  \f^.  careftill  J  ttadied  bj  all  diMe  wbo  wi^  to 
tti^,mitft\pm  maitert  of  die  drflicnlt,  bat 
^  amaJyasing  compeiid  bodies.* 


*  An  nedkat  Enffith  tnoBbtiim  of  d 
rd  f MportMit  iiiltigw  brtke  aatbor,  hai 


PROGRESS  OF   ANALYTICAL  CBBMISTRY.     229 

Wohler  is  proffissor  of  chemistry  in  the  Polyteohnic 
School  of  iBedin ;  he  does  not;  appear  .to  have  turned 
his  attention  to  analytical  chem»try,  but  rather  to- 
wards extending  our  knowledge  of  the  compounds 
which  the  different  simple  bodies  are  capable  of 
forming  with  each  other.  His  discovery  of  cyanic 
Iteid  may  be  mentioned  as  a  specimen.  He  is  active 
and  young ;  much,  therefore,  may  be  expected  from 
him. 

j9kugustus  Arfiredson  has  distinguished  himself  by 
the  discovery  of  the  new  fixed  alkali,  lithia,.in  peta- 
lite  and  spodumene.  It  has  been  lately  ascertained 
at  Moscow,  by  M .  R.  Hermann,  and  the  experiments 
'have  been  repeated  and  confirmed  by  Berzelius, 
that  lithia  is  a  much  lighter  substance  than  it  was 
found  to  be  by  Arfvedson,  its  atomic  weight  being 
only  1'75.  We  have  from  Arfvedson  an  important 
&et  of  experiments  on  uranium  and  Its  oxides,  and 
on  the  action  of  hydrogen  on  the  metallic  sulphurets. 
He  has  likewise  analyzed  a  considerable  number  of 
minerals  with^eatcare ;  but  of  late  years  he  seems 
to  have  lost  his  activity.  His  analysis  of  chrysoberyl 
does  not  »po8sess  the  accuracy  of  the  rest :  by  some 
inadvertence,  he  has  taken  a  compound  of  glucina 
and  alumina  for  silica. 

I  ought  to  have  included  Walmstedt  and  Trolle- 
Wachmeister  among  the  Swedish  chemists  who  have 
ttontributed  important  papers  towards  'the  progress 
of  analytical  chemistry,  the  memoir  of  the  former  on 
chrysolite,  and  of  the  latter  on  the  garnets,  being 
peculiarly  .valuable.  But  it  would  extend  this  work 
to  an  ethnost  interminable  length,  if  I  were  to  .par- 
ticularize; every  meritorious  experimenter.  This  must 
plead  my  excuse  for  having  omitted  ihe  noxaes  of 
Bucholz,  Gehlen,  Fuchs,  Dumesnil,  Dobereinery 
£upfer,  and  various  other  meritorious  chemists 
who  have  contributed  .^o  imuchtto:^:perfecting;o£ 


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TROOKEM   OF  ANALYTICAL  CHEMISTRY.   231 

try.  This  I  conceive  is  owing  to  the  mode  of  educa- 
tion which  has  been  hitherto  unhappily  followed. 
Till  within  these  very  few  years,  practical  chemistry 
has  been  nowhere  taught.  The  consequence  has 
been,  that  every  chemist  must  discover  processes  for 
himself;  and  a  long  time  elapses  before  he  acquires 
the  requisite  dexterity  and  skill.  About  the  begin- 
ning of  the  present  century,  Dr.  Kennedy,  of  Edin- 
burgh, was  an  enthusiastic  and  dexterous  analyst; 
but  unfortunately  he  was  lost  to  the  science  by  a 
premature  death,  after  giving  a  very  few,  but  these 
masterly,  analyses  to  the  public.  About  the  same 
time,  Charles  Hatchett,  Esq.,  was  an  active  chemist, 
and  published  not  a  few  very  excellent  analyses ; 
but  unfortunately  this  most  amiable  and  accomplished 
man  has  been  lost  to  science  for  more  than  a  quarter 
of  a  century ;  the  baneful  effects  of  wealth,  and  the 
cares  of  a  lucrative  and  extensive  business,  having 
completely  weaned  him  from  scientific  pursuits. 
Mr.  Gregor,  of  Cornwall,  was  an  accurate  man,  and 
attended  only  to  analytical  chemistry  :  his  analyses 
were  not  numerous,  but  they  were  in  general  excel- 
lent. Unfortunately  the  science  was  deprived  of  his 
services  by  a  premature  death.  The  same  observa- 
tion applies  equally  to  Mr.  Edward  Howard,  whose 
analyses  of  meteoric  stones  form  an  era  in  this 
branch  of  chemistry.  He  was  not  only  a  skilful 
chemist,  but  was  possessed  of  a  persevering  industry 
which  peculiarly  fitted  him  for  making  a  figure  as  a 
practical  chemist.  Of  modern  British  analytical 
chemists,  undoubtedly  the  first  is  Mr.  Richard 
Philips ;  to  whom  we  are  indebted  for  not  a  few  ana- 
lyses, conducted  with  great  chemical  skill,  and  per- 
formed with  great  accuracy.  Unfortunately,  of  late 
years  he  has  done  little,  having  been  withdrawn  from 
science  by  the  necessity  of  providing  for  a  large  fa- 
mily, which  can  hardly  be  done,  in  this  country. 


■  studeni 


*an«tOBY   OF   CHEMISTRY.  — ^^^ 

except  by  turning'  one's  attention  to  trade  or  manu- 
factures. The  same  remark  applies  to  Dr.  Henry, 
who  has  nontributed  so  much  to  our  knowledge  of 
gaseous  bodies,  and  whose  analytical  skill,  had  it 
been  wholly  devoted  to  scientific  investigatioM, 
would  have  raiBed  his  reputation,  as  a  discoverer, 
much  higher  than  it  has  attained;  althougt  the 
celebrity  of  Dr.  Henry,  even  under  the  disadvantages 
of  being  a  manufacturing  chemist,  is  deservedly  very 
high.  Of  the  young  chemists  who  have  but  recently 
started  in  the  path  of  analytical  investigation,  we 
expect  the  most  from  Dr.  Turner,  of  the  London 
University.  His  analyses  of  the  ores  of  manganese 
are  admirable  specimens  of  skill  and  accuracy,  and 
have  completely  elucidated  a  branch  of  mineralogy 
which,  before  his  experiments,  and  the  descriptioDS 
of  Haidinger  appeared,  was  buried  in  impenetrable 
darkness. 

No  man  that  Great  Britain  has  produced  was  bet- 
ter fitted  to  have  figured  as  an  analytical  chemiat. 
both  by  his  uncommon  chemical  skill,  and  ihe 
powers  of  his  mind,  which  were  of  the  highest  order, 
than  Mr.  Smithson  Tennant,  had  he  not  been  'm 
Bome  measure  prevented  by  a  delicate  frame. of 
body,  which  produced  in  him  a  state  of  indolence 
somewhat  similar  to  that  of  Dr.  Black.  His  dis- 
coTOry  of  osmium  and  iridium,  and  his  analysis  of 
emery  and  magnesian  limestone,  may  be  mentioned 
as  proofs  of  what  he  could  have  accomplished  had 
his  health  allowed  him  a  greater  degree  of  eixertion. 
His  experiments  on  the  diamond  first  demonstrated 
that  it  was  composed  of  pure  carbon ;  while  bis  dis- 
covery of  phosphnret  of  lime  has  furnished  lecturen 
on  chemistry  with  one  of  the  most  brilliant  and 
beautiful  of  those  exhibitions  which  they  are  in  the 
habit  of  making  to  attract  the  attention  of  their 
students. 


PROGRESS   OF   AlfULTTICAX  .CHEMISTRT.      233 

Smithson  Tennant  was  tbe  only  diild  of  the  Rot. 
iCalyert  Tennant,  youngest  son  of  a  respectable  fa- 
mily in  Wensleydale,  near  Richmond,  in  Yorkshhre, 
and  vicar  of  Selby  in  that  county.  He  was  bom  on 
the  30th  of  November,  1761  :  he  had  the  misfortune 
jto  lose  his  father  when  he  -was  only  nine  years  iof 
age ;  and  before  he  attained  the  age  of  manhood  he 
mBS  deprived  likewise  of  his  mother,  by  a  very  un- 
fortunate accident :  she  was  thrown  from*  her  horse 
while  riding  with  her  son,  and  -killed  on  the  spot. 
His  education,  after  his  father's  death,  was  irregulax. 
And  apparently  neglected ;  he  was  sent  successively 
to- different  schools  in  Yorkshire,  at  Scorton,  Tad- 
caster,  and  Beverley.  He  gave  many  proofs  while 
young  of  a  particular  turn  for  chemistry  and  natural 
philosophy,  both  by  reading  all  books  of  that  de- 
ACription  which  fell  in  his  way,  and  by  making  vari- 
ous little  experiments  which  the  perusal  of  these 
books  suggested.  :His  first  experiment  was  made  at 
nine  years  of  age,  when  he  prepared  a  quantity  of 
gunpowder  for  fireworks,  according  to  directions 
contained  in.  some  "Scientific  book  to  which  he  had 
access. 

iln  the  choice  of  a  profession,  his  attention  was 
naturally  directed  towards  medicine,  as  being  more 
neaxly  allied  to  his  philosophical  pursuits.  He  went 
accordingly  to  Edinburgh,  about  the  year  178(L, 
where. he  laid  the  foundation  of  his  chemical  know- 
ledge under  Dr.  Black.  In  1782  he  was  entered. a 
member  of  Christ's  College,  Cambridge,  wherehe 
began,  from  that  time,  to  reside.  He  was  first  en- 
tered as.  a  pensioner ;  but  disliking  the  ordinary  dis- 
cijriiiie  and  routine  of  an  academicallife,  he  obtained 
an.cxemption  rfrom  those  restraints,  by  becoming  a. 
fidiow  commoner.  During  his  residence  at  Csma- 
bridge  his  chief  attention  was  bestowed  on.cfaemistry 
andihotany ;  though  he  made  Jiimaelf  also  acquainteA 


334  BisTOUT  or  chekistst. 

with  the  elementary  parts  of  mathematics,  and  1 
mastered  the  most  important  parts  of  Newta 
Principia. 

In  1T84  he  travelled  into  Denmark  and  Swed 
chiefly  with  the  view  of  becoming  personally  i 
quainted  with  Scheele,  for  whom  he  had  imbibe 
high  admiration.  He  was  much  gratified  by  id 
he  saw  of  this  extraordinary  man,  and  was  parti 
larly  struck  with  the  simplicity  of  the  appatri 
with  which  his  great  experiments  had  been,  f 
formed.  On  his  return  to  England  he  took  ^ 
plea^re  in  showing  his  friends  at  Cambridge  vari 
minemlogical  specimens,  which  had  been  presea 
to  him  by  Scheele.  and  in  exhibiting  several  inten 
ing  experiments  which  he  had  learned  from  t 
great  chemist.  A  year  or  two  afterwards  he  wenl 
France,  to  become  personally  acquainted  with  i 
most  eminent  of  the  French  chemists.  Thence 
went  to  Holland  and  the  Netherlands,  at  that  ti 
in  a  state  of  insurrection  against  Joseph  II- 

In  1786  he  left  Christ's  College  along  with  E 
fessor  Hermann,  and  removed  with  him  to  Emmas 
College.  In  1788  he  took  his  first  degree  as  baclM 
of  physic,  and  soon  after  quitted  Cambridge  i 
came  to  reside  in  London.  In  1791  he  made' 
celebrated  analysis  of  carbonic  acid,  which  fi 
confirmed  the  opinions  previously  stated  by  Lavoi 
respecting  the  constituents  of  this  substance.  ! 
mode  was  to  pass  phosphorus  through  red-hot  ( 
bonate  of  lime.  The  phosphorus  was  acidified,  i 
charcoal  deposited.  It  was  during  these  exp 
ments  that  he  discovered  phosphuretof  lime.       i 

In  1792  he  again  visited  Paris ;  but,  from  circ* 
stances,  being  afraid  of  a  couvulsion,  he  was  I 
tunate  enough  to  leave  that  city  the  day  before'. 
memorable  10th  of  August.  He  travelled  throi 
Italy,  and  then  passed  through  part  of  Germa 


PROGRESS  OF   AKALTTICAL  CHEMISTRY.      235 

On  his  return  to  Paris,  in  the  beginning  of  1793,  he 
was  deeply  impressed  with  the  gloom  and  desolation 
arising  from  the  system  of  terror  then  beginning  to 
prevail  in  that  capital.  On  calling  at  the  house  of 
M.  Delametherie,  of  whose  simplicity  and  modera- 
tion he  had  a  high  opinion,  he  found  the  doors  and 
windows  closed,  as  if  the  owner  were  absent.  Being 
at  length  admitted,  he  found  his  friend  sitting  in  a 
baclc  room,  by  candle-light,  with  the  shutters  closed 
in  the  middle  of  the  day.  On  his  departure,  after  a 
hurried  and  anxious  conversation,  his  friend  con- 
jured him  not  to  come  again,  as  the  knowledge  of 
nis  being  there  might  be  attended  with  serious  con- 
sequences to  them  both.  To  the  honour  of  Delame- 
therie,  it  deserves  to  be  stated,  that  through  all  the 
inquisitions  of  the  revolution,  he  preserved  for  his 
friend  property  of  considerable  value,  which  Mr. 
Tennant  had  intrusted  to  his  care. 

On  his  return  from  the  continent,  he  took  lodg- 
ings in  the  Temple,  where  he  continued  to  reside 
during  the  rest  of  his  life.  He  still  continued  the 
study  of  medicine,  and  attended  the  hospitals,  but 
became  more  indifferent  about  entering  into  prac- 
tice. He  took,  however,  a  doctor's  degree  at  Cam- 
bridge in  1796;  but  resolved,  as  his  fortune  was 
independent,  to  relinquish  all  idea  of  practice,  as 
not  likely  to  contribute  to  his  happiness.  Exquisite 
sensibility  was  a  striking  feature  in  his  character, 
and  it  would,  as  he  very  properly  conceived,  have 
made  him  peculiarly  unfit  for  the  exercise  of  the  me- 
dical profession.  It  may  be  worth  while  to  relate 
an  example  of  his  practical  benevolence  which  hap- 
pened about  this  time. 

He  had  a  steward  in  the  country,  in  whom  he  had 
long  placed  implicit  confidence,  and  who  was  con- 
siderably indebted  to  him.  In  consequence  of  this 
man's  becoming  embarrassed  in  his  circumstances^ 


,^HTOBZ'Or  CBEMIVIKZ. 

Ur.  Tenaant  went  into  the  country  to  examioe  hti 
accounts.  A  time  and  pUce  vrere  appointed  forium 
tti  produce  his  books,  and  show  the  extent  of  ths 
deficiency:  but  the  unfortu  a  ate  steward  felt  hirnself 
unequal  to  the  ta^  of  such  an  esplanation,  and  in  ft 
fit  of  despar  put  an  end  to  his  existence.  Touched 
by  this  melancholy  event,  Mr.  Tennant  used  his  ttt- 
most  exertions  for  the  relief  and  protection  of  tlie 
femily  whom  he  had  lefi,  and  not  only  forgave  then 
the  debt,  but  afforded  them  pecnaiary  a^ietance, 
and  continued  ever  afterwards  to  be  their  friotd  and 
benefactor. 

During  the  year  1796  he  made  his  experiments-to 
prove  that  the  diamond  is  pure  carbon.  His  method 
was  to  heat  it  in  a  gold  tube,  with  saltpetre.  "Hw 
diamond  was  converted  into  caibonic  acid  gas,  which 
combined  with  the  potash  from  the  saltpetre,  and  by 
the  evolution  of  which  the  quantity  of  catbon,.in  k 
given  weight  of  diamond,  might  be  estimated.  A 
cfaaractei'istic  trait  of  Mr.  Tennant  occurred  dunng 
the  course  of  this  esperiment,  which  I  relate  on  the 
authority  of  Dr.  Wollaston,  who  was  present  ta  U 
assistant,  and  who  related  the  fact  tome,  Mr.  Teti- 
nant  was  in  the  habit  of  taking  a  ride  on  horsebaok 
every  day  at  a  certain  hour.  The  tube  containing 
the  diamond  and  saltpetre  were  actually  beating,  and 
the  experiment  considerably  advanced,  when,  sud- 
denly recollecting  tliat  his  hour  for  riding  wai 
ootue,  he  left  the  completion  of  the  process  to  Dr. 
Wollaston,  and  went  out  as  usual  to  take  hia  ride. 

In  the  year  1797,  in  eonseqoence  of  a  vbK  ;to  a 
friend  in  Lincolnshire,  where  he  witnessed  the  ao- 
tivily  with  which  improvements  in  farming  operations 
were  at  that  time  going  on,  he  was  induced  to  pur- 
chase some  land  in  that  country,  in  order  to  com- 
mence farming  operations.  In  1790  he  bought  a 
soneidetable  tract  of  waste  land  in  Somersetehire, 


»A0GRE6I  OV  AITAITTVCAL  CHBMISTRY.      23T 

levillagB  of  Cheddar,  wheorehe  built  a  small 
in  whidi,  during  the  remainder  of  his  life,  he 
L  the  habit  cft  spending  some  months  every 
a*y.  besides  occasional  visita  at  other  times*  of 
ar.  These  farming  speculations^  as  mights 
ecai  anticipated  fVom  the  indolent  and  careles9 
of  Mr.  Tennant,  were  not  very  successful, 
appears  fhim  the  papers  which  he  left  behind 
hat  he  paid  considerable  attention  to  agricul- 
lat  he  had  read  the  best  books  on  the  subject, 
•llected  many  facts  on-  it  during  his  different 
ys  through  various  parts  of  England.  In  tiie 
of  these  inquiries- he  had.  discovered  that  there 
wo  kinds  of  limestone  known  in  the  midland 
3s:of  England,  one  of  which  yielded  a  lime 
us  to  vegetation.  He  showed,  in  1799,  that 
isence  of  carbonate  of  magnesia  is  the  cause 
bad  qualities  of  this  latter  kind  of  limestones 
und'  that  the  magnesian  limestone  forms  an 
ive  stratum  in  the  midland  counties,  and  that 
T»also  in  primitive  districts  under  the  name 
imite. 

mfers  from  the  slow  solubility  of  this  lune*- 
D  acids,  that  it  is  a  double  salt  composed-  of 
ate  of  lime  and  carbonate  of  magnesia  in  che-»' 
combination.  He  found  that  grain  would 
y  germinate,  and  that  it  soon  perished  in 
aed  cari)onate  of  magnesia:*  hence  he  con* 
!  that  magnesia  is  really  injurious  to  vege^* 
Upon  this  principle  he  accounted  for  the 
UB  effects  of  the  magnesian  limestone  when 
fed  as  a  manure. 

802  he  showed  that  emery  is  merely  a.  variety 
mdmn,  or  of  tiie  precious  stone  known  by  Ite 
if  sapphire. 

ingl^  same  year,  while  endeavouring  to  make 
>y  of  lead  with  the  powder  which  remains  after 


~  238  "BISTORT  OF   CHKUUTSf. 

treating  (^rude  platinum  with  aqua  regia,lie  observed 
remarkable  properties  in  this  powder,  and  found  thai 
it  contaioed  a  new  metal.  While  he  was  engaged 
in  the  iavestigatioa,  Descotils  had  turned  biis  atten- 
tion to  the  same  powder,  and  had  discovered  that  it 
contained  a  metal  which  gives  a  red  colour  to  the 
ammoniaca!  precipitate  of  platinum.  Soon  after, 
Vauqiielin,  having  treated  the  powder  with  alkali, 
obtained  a  volatile  metallic  oxide,  which  he  consi- 
dered as  the  same  metal  that  had  been  observed  \>j 
Descotils.  la  1804  Mr.  Tennant  showed  that  this 
powder  contains  two  new  metals,  to  which  he  gave 
the  name  of  osmium  and  ii-idivm. 

Mr.  Tennant's  health,  by  this  time,  had  become 
delicate,  and  he  seldom  went  to  bed  without  a  c 
tain  quantity  of  fever,  which  often  obliged  him  to 
get  up  during  the  night  and  expose  himself  to  the 
cold  air.  To  keep  himself  in  any  degree  in  health, 
he  found  it  necessary  to  take  a  great  deal  of  exercise 
on  horseback.  He  was  always  an  awkward  and  a 
bad  horseman,  so  that  these  rides  were  sometimes  a 
little  ha^rdous  ;  and  I  have  more  than  once  heard 
htm  say,  that  a  fall  front  his  horse  would  some  dm 
prove  fatal  to  him.  In  1809  he  was  thrown  from  hu 
horse  near  Brighton,  and  had  his  collar-bone  broken. 

In  the  year  1S12  he  was  prevailed  upon  to  de-> 
liver  a  few  lectures  on  the  prmciples  of  mineralt^, 
to  a  number  of  his  friends,  among  whom  were  many 
ladies,  and  a  considerable  number  of  men  of  science 
and  information.  These  lectures  were  completelr 
successful,  and  raised  his  reputation  very  muck 
among  his  friends  as  a  lecturer.  He  pEU'Ucularty 
excelled  in  the  investigation  of  minerals  by  the  blow- 
pipe ;  and  I  have  heard  him  repeatedly  say,  that  he 
was  indebted  for  the  first  knowledge  of  the  mode  of 
nsing  that  valuable  instrument  to  Assessor  Gahn  of 
Falilun. 


P&0GBE8S  OJt   ANALYTICAL   CHEMISTRY.      239 

In  1813,  a  vacancy  occurring  in  the  chemical  pro- 
fessorship at  Cambridge,  he  was  solicited  to  become 
a  candidate.  His  friends  exerted  themselves  in  his 
favour  with  unexampled  energy  ;  and  all  opposition 
being  withdrawn,  he  was  elected  professor  m  May^ 
1813. 

After  the  general  pacification  in  1814  he  went  to 
France,  and  repaired  to  the  southern  provinces  of 
that  kingdom.  He  visited  Lyons,  Nismes,  Avignon, 
Marseilles,  and  Montpellier.  He  returned  to  Paris 
in  November,  much  gratified  by  his  southern  tour. 
He  was  to  have  returned  to  England  about  the  latter 
end  of  the  year  ;  but  he  continued  to  linger  on  till 
the  February  following.  On  the  15th  of  that  month 
he  went  to  Calais  ;  but  the  wind  blew  directly  into 
Calais  harbour,  and  continued  unfavourable  for 
several  days.  After  waiting  till  the  20th  he  went  to 
Boulogne,  in  order  to  take  the  chance  of  a  better 
passage  from  that  port.  He  embarked  on  board  a 
vessel  on  the  22d,  but  the  wind  was  still  adverse^ 
and  blew  so  violently  that  the  vessel  was  obliged  to 
put  back.  When  Mr.  Tennant  came  ashore,  he  said 
that  "  it  was  in  vain  to  struggle  with  the  elements, 
and  that  he  was  not  yet  tired  of  life.''  It  was  de- 
termined, in  case  the  wind  should  abate,  to  make 
another  trial  in  the  evening.  During  the  interval 
Mr.  Tennant  proposed  to  his  fellow-traveller,  Baron 
Bulow,  that  they  should  hire  horses  and  take  a  ride. 
They  rode  at  first  along  the  sea-side ;  but,  on  Mr. 
Tennant's  suggestion,  they  went  afterwards  to  Bo- 
naparte's pillar,  which  stands  on  an  eminence  about 
a  league  from  the  sea-shore,  and  which,  having  been 
to  see  it  the  day  before,  he  was  desirous  of  showing 
to  Baron  Bulow.  On  their  return  from  thence  they 
deviated  a  little  from  the  road,  in  order  to  look  at  a 
small  fort  near  the  pillar,  the  entrance  to  which  was 
over  a  fosse  twenty  feet  deep.     On  the  side  towards 


UO  ntnoBT  or  ratsiHantT. 

tfaom,  there  was  a  Btandin^  bridge  for  some  tray,  till 
it  jointHt  n  tlrawbriilg'e,  wliich  turned  oo  a  pivots 
The  enit  next  the  Tort  rested  on  the  ground.  " 
Ibo  Hide  next  t»  thiun  it  was  usually  fastened  by  a 
boll ;  but  thp  boll  hud  been  stolen  abotit  a  fortnigbfl 
bi-fore,  ftnd  was  nut  replaced.  As  the  bridge  was 
too  narrow  for  them  to  go  abreast,  the  baron  said  he 
would  );o  tlrst,  and  attempted  to  ride  over  it;  but 
perceiving  that  it  was  beginning  to  sink,  he  made  an 
«tibit  to  pass  the  centre,  and  called  out  to  warn  his 
compunion  of  Ids  danger  ;  but  it  was  too  late  :  tbejt 
Wftrn  liolh  preeipitated  into  the  trench.  The  barony 
though  much  stunned,  fortunately  escaped  without 
Any  serious  hurt ;  but  on  recovering  his  senses,  anf 
loukin^  round  for  Mr.  Tcnnant,  he  found  him  lying 
undiThis  horse  nearly  lifeless.  He  was  taken,  how- 
over,  to  the  Civil  Hospital,  as  the  nearest  place  ready 
to  rocoivo  him.  After  a  short  interval,  he  seemed  in 
aomo  slight  degree  to  recover  his  senses,  and  made 
an  effort  to  speak,  but  without  effect,  and  died  within 
the  hour.  His  remains  were  interred  a  few  days  aft« 
in  the  public  cemetery  at  Boulogne,  being  attended 
to  the  grave  by  most  of  the  English  residents. 

Thet«  is  another  branch  of  investigation  intimately 
connected  with  analytical  chemistry,  the  improve- 
ments in  which  have  been  attended  with  great  ad- 
vantage, both  to  mineralogists  and  chemists.  I 
mean  the  use  of  the  blowpipe,  to  make  a.  kind  of 
miniature  analysis  of  minerals  in  the  dry  way;  aft 
far.  at  least,  ta  to  determine  the  nature  of  Uie  con- 
stituents of  the  mineral  under  examination.  This  il 
attended  with  many  advantages,  as  a  preliminary  td 
a  rigid  analysis  by  solution.  By  informing  us  of 
tile  nature  of  the  constituents,  it  enables  ua  to  form 
B  plan  of  the  analysis  beforehand,  which,  in  many 
cases,  saves  the  trouble  and  the  tediousnew  of  two 
separate  analytical  investigations  ;  for  when  we  set 


PE0OR£8S   OF   AKitLYTICAL   CHEMISTRY.      241 

about  analyzing  a  mineral,  of  the  nature  of  which 
we  are  entirely  ignorant,  two  separate  sets  of  experi- 
ments are  in  most  cases  indispensable.  We  must 
€xamine  the  mineral,  in  the  first  place,  to  determine 
the  nature  of  its  constituents.  These  being  known, 
we  can  form  a  plan  of  an  analysis,  by  means  of 
which  we  can  separate  and  estimate  in  succession 
the  amount  of  each  constituent  of  the  mineral.  Now 
a  judicious  use  of  the  blowpipe  often  enables  us  to 
determine  the  nature  of  the  constituents  in  a  few 
minutes,  and  thus  saves  the  trouble  of  the  prelimi- 
nary analysis. 

The  blowpipe  is  a  tube  employed  by  goldsmiths 
in  soldering.  By  means  of  it,  they  force  the  flame 
of  a  candle  or  lamp  against  any  particular  point 
which  they  wish  to  heat.  This  enables  them  to  solder 
trinkets  of  various  kinds,  without  affecting  any  other 
part  except  the  portion  which  is  required  to  be 
heated.  Cronstedt  and  Engestroem  first  thought  of 
applying  this  little  instrument  to  the  examination  of 
minerals.  A  small  fragment  of  the  mineral  to  be 
examined,  not  nearly  so  large  as  the  head  of  a  small 
pin,  was  put  upon  a  piece  of  charcoal,  and  the  flame 
of  a  candle  was  made  to  play  upon  it  by  means  of  a 
blowpipe,  so  as  to  raise  it  to  a  white  heat.  They 
observed  whether  it  decrepitated,  or  was  dissipated, 
or  melted;  and  whatever  the  effect  produced  was, 
they  were  enabled  from  it  to  draw  consequences 
respecting  the  nature  of  the  mineral  under  exa- 
mination. 

The  importance  of  this  instrument  struck  Bergman, 
and  induced  him  to  wish  for  a  complete  examination 
of  the  action  of  the  heat  of  the  blowpipe  upon  all 
different  minerals,  either  tried  per  se  upon  charcoal, 
or  mixed  with  various  fluxes ;  for  three  different 
substances  had  been  chosen  as  fluxes,  namely,  car^ 
bonate  ofsodoy  borax,  and  biphosphate  of  soda;  or, 

VOL.  II.  R 


I 

I 


I 


BISTOaT  or  CH£«ISTKT. 

at  least,  what  was  in  f>tct  an  equivalent  for  this  last 
substauce,  ammoido-pkospkute  of  $oda,  or  microcos- 
mic  lalt,  at  that  lime  extracted  from  Brine.  TfaiB 
salt  is  a  compound  of  one  integ^ni  particle  of  phoa- 
phateof  aoda,  and  one  integrant  particle  of  phosphate 
of  ammonia-  When  heated  before  the  blowpipe  it 
fuses,  and  the  water  of  crystallization,  together  with 
the  ammonia,  are  gradually  dissipated,  so  that  at 
last  nothing  remains  but  biphosphate  of  soda.  These 
fluxes  have  been  found  to  act  with  consideraUe 
energy  on  most  minerals.  The  carbonate  of  soda 
readily  fuses  with  those  that  contain  much  silica, 
while  the  borax  and  btphosphate  of  soda  act  most 
powerfully  on  the  bases,  not  sensibly  aifecting-  the 
siUca,  which  remains  unaltered  in  the  fused  bead. 
A  misture  of  boi-ax  aiid  carbonate  of  soda  upoa 
charcoal  in  general  enables  us  to  reduce  the  metallic 
oxides  to  the  state  of  metals,  provided  we  understand 
the  way  of  applying  the  flame  properly,  Bergman 
employed  Gahn,  who  was  at  that  time  his  pupil,  and 
whose  skill  he  was  well  acquainted  with,  to  make  tite 
requisite  experiments.  The  result  of  these  experi- 
ments was  drawn  up  into  a  paper,  which  Bei^man 
sent  to  Baron  Born  in  1777,  and  they  were  pub- 
lished by  him  at  Vienna  in  1779.  This  valuable 
publication  threw  a  new  light  upon  the  application  of 
the  blowpipe  to  the  assaying  of  minerals;  and  for 
every  thing  new  which  it  contained  Bei^roan  wa» 
indebted  to  Gahn,  who  had  made  the  experim^ts, 

John  Gottlieb  Gahn,  the  intimate  friend  of  Berg- 
man and  of  Scheele,  was  one  of  the  best-informed 
men,  and  one  whose  manners  were  the  most  simple, 
uoaiFected,  and  pleasing,  of  all  the  men  of  science 
with  whom  I  ever  came  in  contact.  I  spent  a  few 
days  with  him  at  Fahlun,  iu  1812.  and  they  were 
Bome  of  the  most  delightful  days  that  I  ever  passed 
in    my  lii'e.      Hia    fund  of  iuformaCiou   was  inex- 


PROGREgS   07   ANALYTICAL   CHEMISTRY.      243 

liaustible,  and  was  only  excelled  by  the  chonnixig 
Biin])licity  of  his  manners,  and  by  the  benevoience 
and  goodness  of  heart  which  beamed  in  his  counten- 
ance.    He  was  born  on  the  17th  of  August,  1745, 
«t  the  Woxna  iron-works,  in  South  Hdsingland, 
where  his  father,  Hans  Jacob  Gahn,  was  treasurer  to 
&e  government  of  Stora  Kopperberg.     His  grandfa- 
ther, or  great-grandfather,  he  told  me,  had  emigrated 
£rom  Scotland ;  and  he  mentioned  several  families 
In  Scotland  to  which  he  was  related.     After  com- 
peting his  school  education  at  Westeras,  he  went, 
in  the  year  1760,  to  the  University  of  Upsala.     He 
^ad  already  shown  a  decided  bias  towards  the  study 
Df  chemistry,  mineralogy,  and  natural  philosophy; 
and,  like  most  men  of  science  in  Sweden,  where 
phiiosophical  instrument-makers  are  scarcely  to  be 
Bound,  he  had  accustomed  himself  to  handle  the 
^different  tools,  and  to  supply  himself  in  that  manner 
with  all  the  different  pieces  of  apparatus  which  he 
Acquired  for  his  investigations.     He  seems  to  have 
lis^nt  nearly  ten  years  at  Upsala,  during  which  time 
jbe  acquired  a  very  profound  knowledge  in  chemistry, 
and  made  various  important  discoveries,  which  his 
modesty  or  his  indifference  to  fame  made  him  allow 
nthers  to  pass  as  their  own.     The  discovery  of  the 
jiiomboidal  nucleus  of  carbonate  of  lime  in  a  six- 
nded  prism  of  that  mineral,  which  he  let  fall,  ami 
which  was  accidentally  broken,  constitutes  the  ibun- 
<datkm   of  Hauy's  system  of  crystallization.      He 
communicated  the  fact  to  Bergman,  who  published 
it  as  his  own  in  the  second  voluii^  of  his  Opuscula, 
urithout  any  mention  of  Gahn's  name. 

The  earth  of  bones  had  been  considered  as  a  pe- 
•citliar  simple  earth ;  but  Gahn  ascertained,  by  ana- 
lysis, that  it  was  a  compound  of  phosphoric  acid  and 
moB;  and  this  discovery  he  communicated  to  Scheele, 
vho,  in  his  paper  on  fluor  spar^  published  in  1771, 

r2 


244 


HISTOKY   or   CnEHISTBT. 


observed,  in  the  seventeenth  section,  in  which  he  is 
describing  the  effect  of  phosphoric  acidonfluor  spar, 
"  It  has  lately  been  discovered  that  the  earth  of 
bones,  or  of  homs,  is  calcareous  earth  combined 
with  phosphoric  acid."  In  consequence  of  this  re- 
mark, in  which  the  name  of  Gahn  does  not  appear, 
it  was  long  supposed  thai  Scheele,  and  not  Gahn, 
was  the  author  of  this  important  discovery. 

It  was  during  this  period  that  he  demonstrated 
the  metallic  nature  of  manganese,  and  examined 
the  properties  of  the  metal.  This  discovery  was  an- 
nounced as  his,  at  the  time,  by  Bergman,  and  was 
almost  the  only  one  of  the  immense  number  of  new 
facts  which  he  had  ascertained  that  was  publicly 
known  to  be  his. 

On  the  death  of  his  father  he  was  left  in  rather 
narrow  circumstances,  which  obliged  him  lo  turn  hia 
immediate  attention  to  mining  and  metallurgy.  To 
acquire  a  practical  knowledge  of  raining  he  asso- 
ciated with  the  common  miners,  and  continued  to 
work  like  them  till  he  had  acquired  all  the  practical 
dexterity  and  knowledge  which  actual  labour  could 
give.  In  1770  he  was  commissioned  by  the  College 
of  Mines  to  institute  a  course  of  experiments,  with  a 
view  to  improve  the  method  of  smelting  copper,  at 
Fahlun.  The  consequence  of  this  investigation  was 
a  complete  regeneration  of  the  whole  syatero,  so  as 
to  save  a  great  deal  both  of  time  and  fiiel. 

Sometime  after,  he  became  a  partner  in  some  ex- 
tensive works  at  Stora  Kopperberg,  where  he  settled 
as  a  superintendent.  From  J  770,  when  he  first  set- 
tled at  Fahlun,  down  to  1785,  he  took  a  deep  interest 
in  the  improvement  of  the  chemical  works  in  that 
place  and  neighbourhood.  He  established  manu- 
factories of  sulphur,  sulphuric  acid,  and  red  ochre. 

In  1780  the  Royal  College  of  Mines,  as  a  testi- 
mony of  their  sense  of  the  value  of  Gahn's  improve- 


PROGRESS   OF   ANALYTICAL  CHEMISTRY.      245 

ments,  presented  him  with  a  gold  medal  of  merit. 
In  1782  he  received  a  royal  patent  as  mining  master. 
In  1784  he  was  appointed  assessor  in  the  Royal  Col- 
lege of  Mines,  in  which  capacity  he  officiated  as 
often  as  his  other  vocations  permitted  him  to  reside 
in  Stockholm.  The  same  year  he  married  Anna 
Maria  Bergstrom,  with  whom  he  enjoyed  for  thirty- 
one  years  a  life  of  uninterrupted  happiness.  By  his 
■wife  he  had  a  son  and  two  daughters. 

In  the  year  1773  he  had  been  elected  chemical 
stipendiary  to  the  Royal  College  of  Mines,  and  he 
€K)ntinaed  to  hold  this  appointment  till  the  year 
1814.  During  the  whole  of  this  period  the  solution 
of  almost  every  difficult  problem  remitted  to  the 
college  devolved  upon  him.  In  1795  he  was  chosen 
a  member  of  the  committee  for  directing  the  general 
affairs  of  the  kingdom.  In  1810  he  was  made  one 
of  the  committee  for  the  general  maintenance  of  the 
poor.  In  1812  he  was  elected  an  active  associate  of 
the  Royal  Academy  for  Agriculture;  and  in  1816 
he  became  a  member  of  the  committee  for  organizing 
the  plan  of  a  Mining  Institute.  In  1818  he  was 
chosen  a  member  of  the  committee  of  the  Mint; 
but  from  this  situation  he  was  shortly  after,  at  his 
own  request,  permitted  to  withdraw. 

His  wife  died  in  1815,  and  from  that  period  his 
health,  which  had  never  been  robust,  visibly  de- 
clined. Nature  occasionally  made  an  effort  to  shake 
off  the  disease  ;  but  it  constantly  returned  with  in- 
creasing strength,  until,  in  the  autumn  of  1818,  the 
decay  became  more  rapid  in  its  progress,  and  more^ 
decided  in  its  character.  He  became  gradually 
weaker,  and  on  the  8th  of  December,  1818,  died* 
without  a  struggle,  and  seemingly  without  pain. 

Ever  after  the  experiments  on  the  blowpipe  which 
Gahn  performed  at  the  request  of  Bergman,  his  at- 
tention had  been  turned  to  that  piece  of  apparatus  ^ 


» 


HISTOKT   OT  CHESnSTRT. 

and  during  tbe  course  of  a  ioag  life  he  had  i 
duced  ao  many  improvemeiits,  that  he  was  enabled, 
by  means  of  ihe  blowpipe,  to  detemune  in  a  few 
DUnates  the  constituents  of  almost  any  mineral.  He 
had  gone  over  almost  all  the  mineral  kingdom,  and 
detennined  the  behaviour  of  almost  every  mineral 
before  the  blowpipe,  both  by  itself  and  when  mixed 
Willi  the  different  fluxes  and  reagents  which  he  had 
invented  for  the  parpose  of  detecting  the  drfierent 
constituents ;  but.  from  hi*  characteristic  nnwtlltng' 
ness  to  commit  his  observationB  and  experiments  to 
writing,  or  to  draw  thera  up  into  a  regular  memoir, 
had  not  Berxebus  offered  himself  as  an  assistant, 
tbey  would  probably  have  been  lost.  By  his  means 
a  ^tort  treatise  on  the  blowpipe,  with  minute  di- 
rections huw  to  use  the  diSereat  contrivances  which 
lie  had  invented,  was  drawn  up  and  inserted  in  the 
second  volume  of  Berzeliua's  Chemistry.  B«zeliuv 
and  he  afterwards  examined  all  theminerab  knowD^ 
or  at  least  which  they  could  procure,  before  the  Ui>w>- 
pipe;  and  the  resuh  of  the  whole  constituted  the 
materials  of  Berzelius's  treatise  on  the  blowpipe, 
which  has  been  translated  into  German,  French,  andi 
Kiglish.  It  may  be  considered  as  containing' the 
sum  of  all  the  Improvements  which  Gahn  had  made' 
cat  the  use  of  the  blowpipe,  together  with  bU  the 
facts  that  he  had  collected  respecting  the  pheno- 
mena exhibited  by  minerals  before  the  blowpipe.  It 
constitutes  an  exceeding'ly  useful  and  valaable  book, 
and  ought  to  make  a  part  of  the  library  c^  tverf 
analytical  chemist. 

Dr.  Wollaston  bad  paid  as  much  attention  to  tbe 
blowpipe  as  Gahn,  and  hod  introduced  so  many  im- 
provements into  its  use,  that  he  was  able,  by  meavs 
of  it,  to  determine  the  nature  of  the  constituents  of 
any  mineral  in  the  course  of  a.  few  minutes.  Ho 
was  fond  of  such  analytical  experiments,  and  woa 


PROGRESS    or   ANALYTICAL   CHEMISTRY.     247 

gjenerally  applied  to  by  every  person  who  thought 
himself  possessed  of  a  new  mineral,  in  order  to  be 
enabled  to  state  what  its  constituents  were.  The 
London  mineralogists  if  the  race  be  not  extinct, 
must  sorely  feel  the  want  of  the  man  to  whom  they 
were  in  the  habit  of  applying  on  all  occasions,  and 
to  whom  they  never  applied  in  vain. 

Dr.  WiDiam  Hyde  Wollaston,  was  the  son  of  the 
Reverend  Dr.  Wollaston,  a  clergyman  of  some  rank 
in  the  church  of  England,  and  possessed  of  a  com- 
petent fortune.  He  was  a  man  of  abilities,  and 
radier  eminent  as  an  astronomer.  His  grandfather 
was  the  celebrated  author  of  the  Religion  of  Nature 
delineated.  Dr.  William  Hyde  WoUaston  was  bom 
about  the  year  1767,  and  was  one  of  fifteen  children, 
who  aU  reached  the  age  of  manhood.  His  constitu- 
tion was  naturally  feeble  ;  but  by  leading  a  life  of  the 
iftrictest  sobriety  and  abstemiousness  he  kept  him- 
kM.  ia  a  state  fit  for  mental  exertion.  He  was  edu- 
cated at  Cambridge  y  where  he  was  at  one  time  a 
iiUow.  Afiter  studying  medicine  by  attending  the 
hospitals  and  lectures  in  London,  and  taking  his 
d^ree  of  doctor  at  Cambridge^  he  settled  at  Bury 
Sc  Edmund's,  where  he  practised  as  a  physician  fos 
aone  years.  He  thai  went  to  London,  became  a 
fellow  of  the  Royal  College  of  Physicians,  and  com- 
menced practitioner  in  the  metropolis.  A  vacancy 
occurring  in  St.  George's  Hospital,  he  offered  him- 
self  for  the  place  of  physician  to  that  institution ; 
Imt  another  individual,  whom  he  considered  his 
in£erior  in  knowledge  and  science,  having  been 
preferred  before  him,  he  threw  up  the  profession  of 
medicine  altogether,  and  devoted  the  rest  of  his  life 
to  scientific  pursuits.  NLis  income,  in  consequence 
•I  the  large  family  of  his  father,  was  of  nec^sity 
malL  In  order  to  improve  it  he  turned  his  thoughts 
i»  tlte  manufacture,  of  platinum,  in  which  he  sue* 


248  HISTORY   OF   CHEMIST&T. 

ceeded  so  well,  that  he  most  haTe,  by  means  of  k, 
realized  considerable  sums.  It  was  he  who  first  suc- 
ceeded in  reducing  it  into  ingots  in  a  state  of  puritj 
and  fit  for  every  kind  of  use :  it  was  employed,  in 
consequence,  for  making  vessels  for  chemical  pur- 
poses ;  and  it  is  to  its  introduction  that  we  are  to 
ascribe  the  present  accuracy  of  chemical  investiga- 
tions. It  has  been  gradually  introduced  into  the 
sulphuric  acid  manufactories,  as  a  substitute  for  glass 
retorts. 

Dr.  WoUaston  had  a  particular  turn  for  contriving 
pieces  of  apparatus  for  scientific  purposes.  His  re- 
flecting goniometer  was  a  most  valuable  present  to 
mineralogists,  and  it  is  by  its  means  that  crystal- 
lography has  acquired  the  great  degree  of  perfection 
which  it  has  recently  exhibited.  He  contrived  a 
very  simple  apparatus  for  ascertaining  the  power  of 
various  bodies  to  refract  light.  His  camera  lucida 
furnished  those  who  were  ignorant  of  drawing  with 
a  convenient  method  of  delineating  natural  objects. 
His  periscopic  glasses  must  have  been  found  useful^ 
for  they  sold  rather  extensively :  and  his  sliding* 
rule  for  chemical  equivalents  furnished  a  ready 
method  for  calculating  the  proportions  of  one  suIh 
stance  necessary  to  decompose  a  given  weight  of 
another. 

Dr.  Wollaston's  knowledge  was  more  varied,  and 
his  taste  less  exclusive  than  any  other  philosopher  o£ 
his  time,  except  Mr.  Cavendish:  but  optics  and 
chemistry  are  the  two  sciences  which  lie  under  the 
greatest  obligations  to  him.  His  first  chemical  paper* 
on  urinary  calculi  at  once  added  a  vast  deal  to  what 
had  been  previously  known.  He  first  pointed  out 
the  constituents  of  the  mulberry  calculi,  showinr 
them  to  be  composed  of  oxalate  of  lime  and  animid 
matter.  He  first  distinguished  the  nature  of  the 
triple  phosphates.     It  was  he  who  first  ascertained 


PROGRESS  OF   ANALYTICAL  CHEMISTRY.      249 

the  nature  of  the  cystic  oxides,  and  of  the  chalk- 
stones,  which  appear  occasionally  in  the  joints  of 
gouty  patients.  To  him  we  owe  the  first  demonstra- 
tion of  the  identity  of  galvanism  and  common  elec- 
tricity ;  and  the  first  explanation  of  the  cause  of  the 
different  phenomena  exhibited  by  galvanic  and  com- 
mon electricity.  To  him  we  are  indebted  for  the 
discovery  of  palladium  and  rhodium,  and  the  first 
account  of  the  properties  and  characters  of  these  two 
metals.  He  first  showed  that  oxalic  acid  and  potash 
unite  in  three  different  proportions,  constituting 
oxalate,  binoxalate,  and  quadroxalate  of  potash. 
Many  other  chemical  facts,  first  ascertained  by  him, 
are  to  be  found  in  the  numerous  papers  of  his  scat- 
tered over  the  last  forty  volumes  of  the  Philosophical 
Transactions :  and  perhaps  not  the  least  valuable  of 
them  is  his  description  of  the  mode  of  reducing 
platinum  from  the  raw  state,  and  bringing  it  into  the 
state  of  an  ingot. 

Dr.  Wollaston  died  in  the  month  of  January,  1829, 
in  consequence  of  a  tumour  formed  in  the  brain, 
near,  if  I  remember  right,  the  thalami  nervorum  op- 
ticorum.  There  is  reason  to  suspect  that  this  tu- 
mour had  been  some  time  in  forming.  He  had, 
without  exception,  the  sharpest  eye  that  I  have  ever 
seen :  he  could  write  with  a  diamond  upon  glass  in 
a  character  so  small,  that  nothing  could  be  distin- 
guished by  the  naked  eye  but  a  ragged  line ;  yet 
-when  the  letters  were  viewed  through  a  microscope, 
they  were  beautifully  regular  and  quite  legible.  H4 
retained  his  senses'  to  almost  the  last  moment  of  his 
life :  when  he  lay  apparently  senseless,  and  his 
firiends  were  anxiously  solicitous  whether  he  still  re- 
tained his  understanding,  he  informed  them,  by 
writing,  that  his  senses  were  still  perfectly  entire* 
Few  individuals  ever  enjoyed  a  greater  share  of  gene- 
ral respect  and  confidence,  or  had  fewer  enemies,. 


1250  xisioET  OF  cuEnvniT. 

than  Dr*  WoUaston*  He  was  at  first  diy  and  da- 
tanty  and  remarkably  circmnspec^t^  bat  he  grew  bh 
sensibl  J  more  and  more  agre^d>le  as  you  got  better 
acquainted  with  him,  till  at  last  yoa  form^  for  kim 
the  most  sincere  friendship,  and  your  acquaintance 
ended  in  the  wannest  and  closest  attachment. 


OY  XLECTKO-Cil£XISTRT.  ,    251 


CHAPTER    V. 


OF  BLBCTBO-CHEBCIBTRT. 


Ei«ECTRJCiTYy  like  chemistry,  is  a  modern  science;: 
lor  it  can  scarcely  claim  an  older  origin  tkan  the  ter- 
miBStmn  of  the  first  quarter  of  the  preceding  century  ; 
and  during  the  last  half  of  that  century,  and  a  small 
pnaction  of  the  present,  it  participated  with  chemistry 
itt  tiie  zeal  and  activity  with  which  it  was  cultivated 
by  ^e:  philosophers  of  Europe  and  America.  For 
iBany  years  it  was  not  suspected  that  any  connexion 
eadsted  betweea  chemistry  and  electricity ;  though 
some  of  the  meteorological  phenomena,  especiaUy 
the  production  of  elouds  and  the  formation  of  rain, 
vhich  are  obviously  connected  with  chemistry,  seem? 
likewise  to  claim  some  connexion;  with  the  agency 
o£  electricity. 

The  discovery  of  the  intimate  relation  between 
chemistry  and  electricity  was  one  of  the  conse* 
quesDces  of  a  controversy  carried  on  about  the  year 
1790  between  Galvani  aiid  Volta,  two  ItaHan  phi* 
losophers,  whose  discoveries  will  render  their  names 
iaimortaL  GiaWani,  who  was  a  professor  of  anatomy^ 
iMus  esfegaged  in.  speculations  respecting  musetdar 
motion.  He  was  of  opinion  that  a  peculiar  fluid; 
Witt  secreted  in  the  brain,  which  was  sent  along  the 
nerves  to  all  the  different  parts  of  the  body.  This 
mnnooS'  fluid  possessed  many  characters  analogous 


<r.^v*r.<<.   •:uaEi:  ,if  -3*t   ♦titil   ii*rT»  rime  nm  ^e 
hftf*  jtmu^Uiu.^ ;  -<:^j»r  'Vas:^  nut  i  pacs  it  ^aie  be 

fiMm  Eft  a.  <tj:fe;ecx  mat&ri^r.  AcciscdxK  to  kmiv  ^^ 
e/Ar»»&kKiM  w^^  i^fAwrxd  hr  tke  puiiicr  of  a  cs 
M«(t  <^  t/Mtau^  <{^ctncitT  tkron^  the  laab  of  d 
fr/^^  irfakb  wa*  thrown  mto  a  state  of 
jiM:f i^ij  m  er^iMeqo^tkce  of  fti  imtabiitj.  lbs 
UAkiftf  raiuftb^  after  the  death  of  the  amde; 
e^^din^^  ft  fft  only  while  the  principle  of  life 
that  tbi^  cofkToUr/nf  can  be  prodoced.  Evcrj 
tallir;  coodtiirtOTy  according  to  hin,  powf  ti  m 
tain  ele^ttricity  fiiiich  it  peculiar  to  it,  either  puiitin 
or  nef^atiire,  thots^  the  quantitj  if  fo  snail,  as  to 
be  imfiacef^hitf  in  the  common  state  of  the  metaL 
But  if  a  metal,  natarallj  jxisitiTe,  be  placed  in 
tact,  while  insulated,  with  a  metal  naturally 
ttre,  the  chsa%t  (f(  electricity  in  bodi  is  increased  by 
induction,  and  becomes  perceptible  when  the  two 
tntiain  are  separated  and  presented  to  a  sufficiendy 
delicate  electrometer.  Thus  zinc  is  naturally  po«- 
tive,  and  copper  and  silver  naturally  n^;atiTe.  If 
we  take  two  discs  of  copper  and  zinc,  to  the  centre. 


oy  s&crao-cHEMisTRT.  253 

of  each  of  which  .a  .varnished  glass  handle  is  ce« 
mepted,  and  aftenliieeping  them  for  a  short  time  in 
contact,  separate  them  by  the  handles,  and  apply 
each  to  a  sufficieiMy  delicate  electrometer,  we  shall 
find  that  the  zinc  is  positive,  and  the  silver  or  copper 
disc  negative.  When  the  silver  and  copper  are 
placed  in  contact  while  lying  on  the  nerve  and  mus- 
cles of  the  leg  of  a  frog,  the  zinc  becomes  positive, 
and  the  silver  negative,  by  induction ;  but,  as  the 
animal  substance  is  a  conductor,  this  state  cannot 
continue :  the  two  electricities  pass  through  the  con- 
ducting muscles  and  nerve,  and  neutralize  one  ano- 
ther. And  it  is  this  current  which  occasions  the 
convulsions. 

Such  was  Volta*s  simple  explanation  of  the  con- 
vulsions produced  in  galvanic  experiments  in  the 
limb  of  a  frog.  Galvani  was  far  from  allowing  the 
accuracy  of  it ;  and,  in  order  to  obviate  the  objection 
to  his  reasoning  advanced  by  Volta  from  the  neces- 
sity of  employing  two  metals,  he  showed  that  the 
convulsions  might,  in  certain  cases,  be  produced  by 
one  metal.  Volta  showed  that  a  very  small  quantity 
of  one  metal,  either  alloyed  with,  or  merely  in  con- 
tact with  another,  were  capable  of  inducing  the  two 
electricities.  But  in  order  to  prove  in  the  most  un- 
answerable manner  that  the  two  electricities  were 
induced  when  two  diiferent  metals  were  placed  in  con- 
tact, he  contrived  the  following  piece  of  apparatus : 

He  procured  a  number  (say  50)  of  pieces  of  zinc, 
about  the  size  of  a  crovm-piece,  and  as  many  pieces 
of  copper,  and  thirdly,  the  same  number  of  pieces 
of  card  of  the  same  size.  The  cards  were  steeped 
in  a  solution  of  salt,  so  as  to  be  moist.  He  lays 
upon  the  table  a  piece  of  zinc,  places  over  it  a  piece 
of  copper,  and  then  a  piece  of  moist  card.  Over  the 
card  IS  placed  a  second  piece  of  zinc,  then  a  piece 
of  copper,  then  a  piece  of  wet  card.    In  this  way 


254  BiSTOKT  or  cbejAmtwlt. 

•11  the  pieces  are  piled  vpon  each  odier  m  ezacdy 
tbe  same  order,  naBehr,  zinc,  copper,  card  ; 
copper,  card ;  zinc,  copper,  card.  Sodnt  the 
plate  is  zinc  and  the  oppermost  is  copper  (Sm-  the 
last  iret  card  may  he  ooitted).  In  thk  naj  there 
are  fifty  pairs  of  zinc  and  copper  plates  in  oontncty 
each  separated  by  a  piece  of  wet  card,  which  is  a 
coodnctcM'  of  electricitr.  If  ^ou  now  moisten  a 
finder  of  each  hand  with  water,  and  apply  one  wet 
finger  to  the  lowest  zinc  plate,  and  the  other  to  the 
fa^hest  copper  plate,  the  moment  the  fingers  oome 
in  contact  with  the  plates  an  electric  shock  is  Celt, 
the  intensity  of  which  increases  with  the  number  af 
pairs  of  plates  in  the  pile.  This  is  what  is  called 
the  Galvanic,  or  rather  the  Voltaic  pile.  It  was 
made  known  to  the  public  in  a  paper  by  Volta,  in- 
serted in  the  Philosophical  Transactions  lor  180CK 
Tins  pile  was  gradually  improved,  by  substituting 
troughs,  first  of  baked  wood,  and  afterwards  cf 
porcelain,  divided  into  as  many  cells  as  there  were 
pairs  of  (^ates.  The  size  of  the  plates  was  increased; 
they  were  made  square,  and  instead  of  all  being  in 
contact,  it  was  found  sufficient  if  they  were  st^darcd 
together  by  means  of  metallic  slips  rising  from  one 
side  of  each  square.  The  two  plates  thus  soldered 
w^e  slipped  over  the  diaphragm  separating  the 
contiguous  cells,  so  that  the  zinc  plate  was  in  one 
c^l  and  the  copper  in  the  other.  Care  was  taken 
that  the  pairs  were  introduced  all  looking  one  way, 
■o  that  a  copper  plate  had  al¥rays  a  zinc  plate  im- 
mediately opposite  to  it.  The  cells  were  filled  with 
conducting  liquid :  brine,  or  a  scdution  of  salt  in 
vinegar,  or  dilute  muriatic,  sulphuric,  or  nitric  acid, 
might  be  employed ;  but  dilute  nitric  acid  was  ibnnd 
to  answer  best,  and  the  energy  of  the  battery  is 
directly  proportional  to  the  strength  of  the  nitric 
»eid  ipioyed* 


or  £L£CTRO-Cn£Ml8T&Y.  255 

Messrs.  Nicholson  and  Carlisle  were  the  first  per* 
sons  who  repeated  Volta's  experiments  with  this  ap- 
paratus, which  speedily  drew  the  attention  of  all 
£iiJope.     They  ascertained  that  the  zinc  end  of  the 
pile  was  positive  and  the  copper  end  negative.  Hap- 
pening to  put  a  drop  of  water  on  the  uppermost 
plate,  and  to  put  into  it  the  extremity  of  a  gold  wire 
connected  with  the  undermost  plate,  they  observed 
a&  extrication  of  air-bubbles  from  the  wire.     This 
led  them  to  suspect  that  the  water  was  decomposed. 
To  determine  the  point,  they  collected  a  little  of  the 
gms  'extricated  and  found  it  hydrogen.     They  thea 
attached  a  gold  wire  to  the  unc  end  of  the  pile, 
ajui  another  gold  wire  to  the   copper  end,    and 
plunged  the  two  wires  into  a  glass  of  water,  taking 
care  not  to  allow  them  to  touch  each  other.     Gas 
was  extricated  from  both  wires.     On  collecting  that 
fiom  the  wire  attached  to  the  zinc  end,  it  was  foimd 
to  be  oxygen  gaSy  while  that  from  the  copper  end 
was  hydrogen  gas.    The  volume  of  hydrogen  gas 
extricated  was  just  double  tliat  of  the  oxygen  gas  ; 
and  the  two  gases  being  mixed,  and  an  electric 
passed  through  them,  they  burnt  with  an  ex- 
>sion,  and  were  completely  converted  into  water« 
lus  it  was  demonstrated  that  water  was  decom- 
posed by  the  action  of  the  pile,  and  that  the  oxygen 
was  extricated  from  the  positive  pile  and  the  hydrogen 
from  the  negative.     This  held  when  the  communi- 
cating wires  were  gold  or  platinum;  but  if  they 
vere  of  copper,  silver,  iron,  lead,  tin,  or  zinc,  then 
only  hydrogen  gas  was  extricated  from  the  negative 
wire.     The  positive  wire  extricated  little  or  no  gas ; 
but  it  was  rapidly  oxidized.     Thus  the  connexion 
between  chemical  decompositions  and  electrical  cur- 
Tents  was  first  established. 

It  was  soon  after  observed  by  Henry,  Haldane, 
Davy^  and  other  experimenters,  that  other  chemical 


356  HISTOST   OF   CHEHTSTRr. 

compounds  were  decomposed  by  the  electrical  cnr- 
renls  as  well  aa  water.  Ammonia,  for  example, 
nitric  acid,  and  various  salts,  were  decomposed  by 
it.  In  the  year  1803  an  important  set  of  experi- 
ments was  published  by  Berzeliua  and  Hisinger. 
They  decomposed  eleven  different  salts,  by  exposing 
them  to  the  action  of  a  current  of  electricity.  Tho 
salts  were  dissolved  in  water,  and  iron  or  silver  wires 
from  the  two  poles  of  the  pile  were  plunged  into  the 
solution.  In  every  one  of  these  decompositions,  the 
acid  was  deposited  round  the  positive  wire,  and  the 
base  of  the  salt  round  the  negative  wire.  When 
ammonia  was  decomposed  by  the  action  of  galvanic 
electricity,  the  azotic  gas  separated  from  the  posi- 
tive wire,  and  the  hydrogen  gas  from  the  negative. 

But  it  was  Davy  that  first  completely  elucidated 
the  chemical  decompositions  produced  by  galvanic 
electricity,  who  first  explained  the  laws  by  which 
these  decompositions  were  regulated,  and  who  em- 
ployed galvanism  as  an  instrument  for  decomposing 
various  compounds,  which  had  hitherto  resisted  all 
the  efforts  of  chemists  to  reduce  them  to  their  ele- 
ments.  These  discoveries  threw  a  blaze  of  light 
upon  the  obscurest  parts  of  chemistry,  and  secured 
for  the  author  of  them  an  immortal  reputation- 
Humphry  Davy,  to  whom  these  splendid  disco- 
veries were  owing,  was  bom  at  Penzance,  in  Corn- 
wall, in  the  year  1778.  Hedisplayed  from  his  very 
infancy  aspiritof  research,  and  a  brilliancy  of  fancy, 
which  augured,  even  at  that  early  period,  what  be 
was  one  day  to  be.  When  very  young,  he  was 
bound  apprentice  to  an  apothecary  in  his  native 
town.  Even  at  that  time,  his  scientihc  acquirements 
were  so  great,  that  they  drew  the  attention  of  Mr, 
Davis  Gilbert,  the  late  distinguished  president  of 
the  Royal  Society.  It  was  by  his  advice  that  he 
resolved  to  devote  himself  to  chemistry,  as  the  pur- 


OF    ELECTRO-CHEMISTRY.  257 


suit  best  calculated  to  procure  him  celebrity.  About 
this  lime  Mr.  Gregory  Watt,  youngest  son  of  the 
celebrated  improver  of  the  steam-engine,  happening 
to  be  at  Penzance,  met  with  young  Davy,  and  was 
delighted  with  the  uncommon  knowledge  which  he 
displayed,  at  the  brilliancy  of  bis  fancy,  and  the 
great  dexterity  and  ardour  with  which,  under  cir- 
cumstances the  most  unfavourable,  he  was  prose- 
cuting his  scientific,  investigations.  These  circum- 
stances made  an  indelible  impression  on  his  mind, 
and  led  him  to  recommend  Davy  as  the  best  person 
to  superintend  the  Bristol  Institution  for  trying  the 
medicinal  eSects  of  the  gases. 

After  the  discovery  of  the  different  gases,  and  the 
investigation  of  their  properties  by  Dr.  Priestley,  it 
occurred  to  various  individuals,  nearly  about  thf 
same  time,  that  the  employment  of  certain  gases, 
or  at  least  of  mixtures  of  certain  gases,  with  common 
air  in  respbation,  instead  of  common  air,  might  be 
powerful  means  of  curing  diseases.  Dr.  Beddoea,  at 
that  time  professorofchemistry  at  Oxford,  was  one  of 
the  keenest  supporters  of  these  opinions.  Mr.Watt, 
of  Birmingham,  and  Mr.  Wedge  wood,  entertained 
similar  sentiments.  About  the  beginning  of  the 
present  century,  a  sum  of  money  was  raised  by  sub- 
scription, to  put  these  opinions  to  the  test  of  expe- 
riment;  and,  as  Dr.  Beddoes  had  settled  as  a  phy- 
sician in  Bristol,  it  was  agreed  upon  that  the  expe- 
rimental investigation  should  take  place  at  Bristol. 
But  Dr.  Beddoes  was  not  qualilied  to  superintend 
an  institution  of  the  kind  :  it  was  necessary  to  pro- 
cure a  young  man  of  zeal  and  genius,  who  would 
take  such  an  interest  in  the  investigation  as  would 
compensate  for  the  badness  of  the  apparatus  and 
the  defects  of  tlie  arrangements.  The  greatest  part 
of  the  money  had  been  subscribed  by  Mr.  Wedge- 
wood  and  Mr.  Watt :  their  influence  of  courae  would 


HWTORy   OF   CHEMISTRT. 


be  greatest  iu  recommending  a  proper  superin- 
tendent. Gregory  Wall  thought  of  Mr.  Davy,  whom 
he  had  lately  been  so  highly  pleased  with,  and  re* 
commended  him  with  much  zeal  to  superintend  the 
undertaking.  This  recommendation  being  seconded 
by  that  of  Mr,  Davis  Gilbert,  who  was  so  well  ac- 
quainted wilh  the  scientific  acquirements  and  gentua 
of  Davy,  proved  successful,  and  Davy  accordinglji 
got  the  appointment.  At  Bristol  he  was  employed 
about  a  year  in  investigating  the  efiects  of  the  gasea 
when  employed  in  respiration.  But  he  did  not  by 
any  means  confine  himself  to  this,  which  was  the 
primary  object  of  the  institution ;  but  investigated 
tlie  properties  and  determined  the  composition  of 
nitric  acid,  ammonia,  protoxide  of  azote  and  deut- 
oxide  of  aiote.  The  fruit  of  his  investigations  was 
published  in  1800,  in  a  volume  entitled,  "  Re- 
searches, Chemical  and  Philosophical ;  chiefly  con- 
cerning Nitrous  Oxide,  or  Dephlogisticated  Nitrous 
Air,  and  its  Respiration."  This  work  gave  him  at 
once  a  high  reputation  as  a  chemist,  and  was  reallif 
a  wonderful  performance,  when  the  circumstances 
under  which  it  was  produced  are  taken  into  consi- 
deration. He  had  discovered  the  intoxicating  effect* 
which  protoxide  of  azote  (nitrous  oxide)  prodoces 
when  breatlicd,  and  had  tried  their  effects  upon  s 
great  number  of  individuals.  This  fortunate  disco« 
very  perhaps  contributed  more  to  his  celebrity,  and 
to  bis  subsequent  success,  than  all  the  sterling  merit 
of  the  rest  of  liis  researches — so  great  is  die  effect  of 
display  upon  the  greater  part  of  mankind. 

A  few  years  before,  a  philosophical  institution  had 
been  established  iu  London,  imder  the  auspices  of 
Count  Rumford,  wliich  bad  received  the  name  ot 
the  Royal  Institution.  Lectures  on  cliemistry  and 
natural  philosophy  were  delivered  in  this  instituttoBj 
a  laboratory  was  provided,  and  a  library  established^ 


OF   ELECTEO-CHEMISTaT.  259 

The  first  professor  appointed  to  this  institution^  Dr. 
Garnet,  had  been  induced,  in  consequence  of  some 
disagreement  between  him  and  Count  Rumford,  to 
throw  up  his  situation.  Many  candidates  started 
tor  it ;  but  Davy,  in  consequence  of  the  celebrity 
which  he  had  acquired  by  his  researches,  or  perhaps 
by  the  intoxicating  e£fects  of  protoxide  of  azote^ 
iHiich  he  had  discovered,  was,  fortunately  for  the 
institution  and  for  the  reputation  of  England,  pre- 
fanced  to  them  ail.  He  was  appointed  professor  of 
chemistry,  and  Dr.  Thomas  Young  professor  of  na- 
tural philosophy,  in  the  year  1801.  Davy,  either 
ttom  the  more  popular  nature  of  his  sul^ect,  or 
firom  his  greater  oratorical  powers,  became  at  once  a 
pc^ular  lecturer,  and  always  lectured  to  a  crowded 
vocon ;  while  Dr.  Young,  though  both  a  profound 
and  clear  lecturer,  could  scarcely  command  an  au- 
dience of  a  dozen.  It  was  here  that  Davy  laboured 
with  unwearied  industry  during  eleven  years,  and 
acquired  by  his  discoveries  the  highest  reputation  of 
aay  chemist  in  Europe. 

W  1811  he  was  knighted,  and  soon  after  married 
Mrs.  Apreece,  a  widow  lady,  daughter  of  Mr.  Ker, 
who  had  been  secretary  to  Lord  Rodney,  and  had 
■lade  a  fortune  in  the  West  Indies.  He  was  soon 
a£t^  created  a  baronet.  About  this  time  he  resigned 
his  situation  as  professor  of  chemistry  in  the  Royal 
Institution,  and  went  to  the  continent.  He  re-> 
viaiiied  for  some  years  in  France  and  Italy.  In  the 
year  1821,  when  Sir  Joseph  Banks  died,  a  very  con-* 
siderable  number  of  the  fellows  offered  their  votes 
to  Dr.  WoUaston ;  but  he  declined  standing  as  a 
candidate  for  the  president's  chair.  Sir  Humphry 
Davy,  on  the  other  hand,  was  anxious  to  obtain  that 
lumourable  situation,  and  was  accordingly  elected 
pcesident  by  a  very  great  majority  of  votes  on  the 
atthof  November,  1821.    This  honourable  situa- 

s2 


his  way  homewards;  bat  at  Geneva  he  fei 
so  ill,  that  he  was  unable  to  proceed  furtl 
he  took  to  bis  bed,  and  here  he  died  on  th 
May,  1829. 

It  was  his  celebrated  paper  "  On  some 
Agencies  of  Electricity,"  inserted  in  the 
phical  Transactions  for  1807,  that  laid  the 
tion  of  the  high  reputation  which  he  so  d 
acquired.  I  consider  this  paper  not  mere 
best  of  all  his  own  productions,  but  as  the  i 
completest  specimen  of  inductive  reason! 
appeared  during  the  age  in  which  he  lived 
been  already  observed,  that  when  two  platii 
from  the  two  poles  of  a  gulvanic  pile  arc 
each  into  a  vessel  of  water,  and  the  tn 
united  by  means  of  wet  asbestos,  or  any  o 
ducting  substance,  an  acid  appeared  roun 
sitive  wire  and  an  alkali  round  the  nega 
The  alkali  was  said  by  some  to  be  soda,  by 
be  amtnonia.  The  acid  was  variously  8tai 
nitric  acid,  muriatic  acid,  or  even  chloTin: 
demonstrated,  by  decisive  experiments,  tl 
cases  the  acid  and  alkali  are  derived  from  tl 
position  of  some  salt  contained  either  in 
or  m  the  vessel  containing  the  water,     ft* 


OF   ELECTRO-CUEMISTRT.  261 

were  used,  soda  was  disengaged  at  the  expense  of 
the  glass,  which  was  sensibly  corroded.  When  the 
water  into  which  the  wires  were  dipped  was  perfectly 
pure,  and  when  the  vessel  containing  it  was  free 
from  every  trace  of  saline  matter,  no  acid  or  al- 
kali made  its  appearance,  and  nothing  was  evolved 
except  the  constituents  of  water,  namely,  oxygen 
and  hydrogen ;  the  oxygen  appearing  round  the 
positive  wire,  and  the  hydrogen  round  the  negative 
wire. 

.  When  a  salt  was  put  into  the  vessel  in  which  the 
positive  wire  dipped,  the  vessel  into  which  the 
negative  wire  dipped  being  filled  with  pure  water, 
and  the  two  vessels  being  united  by  means  of  a  slip 
of  moistened  asbestos,  the  acid  of  the  salt  made  its 
appearance  round  the  positive  wire,  and  the  alkali 
round  the  negative  wire,  before  it  could  be  de- 
tected in  the  intermediate  space ;  but  if  an  interme- 
diate vessel,  containing  a  substance  for  which  the 
alkali  has  a  strong  affinity,  be  placed  between  these 
two  vessels,  the  whole  being  united  by  means  of 
dips  of  asbestos,  then  great  part,  or  even  the  whole 
of  the  alkali,  was  stopped  in  this  intermediate 
yessel.  Thus,  if  the  salt  was  nitrate  of  barytes,  and 
sulphuric  acid  was  placed  in  the  intermediate  ves- 
sel, much  sulphate  of  barytes  was  deposited  in  the 
intermediate  vessel,  and  very  little  or  even  no  bary- 
tes made  its  appearance  round  the  negative  wire. 
Upon  this  subject  a  most  minute,  extensive,  and 
satisfactory  series  of  experiments  was  made  by 
Davy,  leavmg  no  doubt  whatever  of  the  accuracy 
of  the  £aict. 

The  conclusions  which  he  drew  from  these  expe- 
riments are,  that  all  substances  which  have  a  che- 
mical affinity  for  each  other,  are  in  different  states 
of  electricity,  and  that  the  degree  of  affinity  is  pro- 
portional to.  the  intensity  of  these  opposite  states. 


S6B  aatoat  «7  CBEHwr&v. 

When  such  a  compound  body  is  placed  in  cout&ct 
with  the  poles  of  a  galvanic  battery,  the  positire 
pole  attracts  the  constituent,  whidi  is  negative,  and 
repels  the  positive.  The  negative  acts  in  the  oppo- 
wte  way,  attracting  the  positive  constituent  and  re- 
pelling the  negative.  The  more  powerful  the  bat- 
tery, the  greater  is  the  force  of  these  attractions  aad 
repulsions.  We  may,  therefore,  by  increasing  the 
energy  of  a  battery  sufficiently,  enable  it  to  decom- 
pose any  compound  whatever,  the  negative  consti- 
tuent being  attracted  by  the  positive  pole,  and  the 
positive  constituent  by  the  negative  pole.  Oxygen, 
chlorine,  bromine,  iodine,  cyanogen,  and  acids,  are 
negative  bodies ;  for  they  always  appear  round  the 
posid'f e  pole  of  the  battery,  and  are  therefore  at- 
tracted to  it:  while  hydrogen,  azote,  carbon,  sele- 
nium, metals,  alkalies,  earths,  and  oxide  bases,  are 
deposited  round  the  negative  pole,  and  conseqoendy 
oie  positive. 

According  to  this  view  of  the  subject,  chemical 
affinity  is  merely  a  case  of  the  attractions  exerted 
by  bodies  in  different  states  of  electricity.  Votta 
first  broached  the  idea,  that  every  body  possrases 
naturally  a  certain  state  of  electricity,  Davy  went  s 
step  further,  and  concluded,  that  the  attractioBS 
which  exist  between  the  atoms  of  different  bodies  are 
merely  the  consequence  of  these  different  states  of 
electricity.  The  proof  of  this  opinion  is  founded  oa 
the  fact,  that  if  we  present  to  a  compound,  suffici- 
ently strong  electrical  poles,  it  will  be  separated  into 
its  constituents,  and  one  of  these  constituents  will 
invariably  make  its  way  to  the  positive  and  the  other 
to  the  negative  pole.  Now  bodies  in  a  state  of  dec- 
trical  eKciteraent  always  attract  those  that  are  in  the 
opposite  state. 

If  dectricity  be  considered  as  consisting  of  two 
distinct  fluids,  which  attract  each  other  with  a  force 


OF   ELZCTRO-CHEMISTRT.  263 

inTersdy,  as  the  square  of  the  distance,  while  the 
particles  of  each  fluid  repel  each  other  with  a  force 
yarying  according  to  the  same  law,  then  we  must 
conclude  that  the  atoms  of  each  body  are  covered 
externally  unth  a  coating  of  some  one  electric  fluid  to 
a  greater  or  smaller  extent.  Oxygen  and  the  other 
supporters  of  combustion  are  covered  with  a  coating 
of  n^;ative  electricity ;  while  hydrogen,  carbon,  and 
the  metals,  are  covered  with  a  coating  of  positive 
electricity.  What  is  the  cause  of  the  adherence 
of  the  electricity  to  these  atoms  we  cannot  explain. 
it  is  not  owing  to  an  attraction  similar  to  gravita- 
tion ;  for  electricity  never  penetrates  into  the  interior 
of  bodies,  but  spreads  itself  only  on  the  surface,  and 
die  quantity  of  it  which  can  accumulate  is  not  pro- 
portional to  the  quantity  of  matter  but  to  the  extent 
of  surface.  But  whatever  be  tlie  cause,  the  adhe- 
jHon  is  strong,  and  seemingly  cannot  be  overcome. 
If  we  were  to  suppose  an  atom  of  any  body,  of 
oxygen  for  example,  to  remain  uncombined  with 
any  other  body,  but  surrounded  by  electricity,  it  is 
cbvious  that  the  coating  of  negative  electricity  <hi  its 
surface  would  be  gradually  neutralized  by  its  ati- 
tracdng  and  combining  v^th  positive  electricity. 
But  let  us  suppose  an  atom  of  oxygen  and  an  atom 
cf  hydrogen  to  be  united  together,  it  is  obvious  that 
the  positive  electricity  of  the  one  atom  would  power- 
ittlly  attract  the  negative  electricity  of  the  other,  and 
vice  versd.  And  if  these  respective  electricities 
cannot  leave  the  atoms,  the  two  atoms  will  remain 
<firmly  united,  and  the  opposite  electrical  intensi- 
ties will  in  some  measure  neutralize  each  other,  and 
Ihus  prevent  them  from  being  neutralized  by  elec- 
tricity from  any  other  quarter.  But  a  current  of  the 
opposite  electricities  passing  through  such  a  com- 
pound, might  neutralize  the  electricity  in  each,  and 
thus  putting  an  end  to  their  attractions,  occasion  de« 
composition. 


'inSTOUT  OF   c 


I 


Such  is  a  very  imperfect  outline  of  the  electrical 
theory  of  affinity  first  proposed  by  Davy  to  account 
for  the  decompositions  produced  by  electricity.  It 
has  been  universaily  adojiiedbychemiats;  andsome 
progcesB  has  been  made  m  explaining  and  account- 
ing for  the  different  phenomena.  It  would  be  im- 
proper, in  a  work  of  this  kind,  to  enter  further  into 
the  subject.  Those  who  are  interested  in  such  dis- 
cussions will  find  a  g^ood  deal  of  information  in  the 
first  volume  of  Berzeliiis's  Treatise  on  Chemistry,  in 
the  introduction  to  the  Traite  de  Chimie  appli(iu4 
aux  Arts,  by  Dumas,  or  in  the  introduction  to  my 
System  of  Chemistry,  at  present  in  the  press. 

Davy  having  thus  got  possession  of  an  engine,  by 
meansof  which  the  compounds,  whose  constituenU 
adhered  to  each  other  might  be  separated,  imme- 
diately applied  it  to  the  decomposition  of  potash  and 
aoda;  bodies  which  were  admitted  to  be  compounds, 
though  all  attempts  to  analyze  them  had  hitherto 
failed.  His  attempt  was  successful.  AVhen  a  pla- 
tinum wire  from  the  negative  pole  of  a  strong  battery 
in  full  action  was  applied  to  a  lump  of  potash,  slightly 
moistened,  and  lymg  on  a  platinum  tray  attached 
to  tlie  positive  pole  of  the  battery,  small  globules  of 
a  white  metal  soon  appeared  at  its  extremity.  Thia 
white  metal  he  speedily  proved  to  be  tlie  basis  o€ 
potash.  He  gave  it  the  name  of  potassium,  and 
very  soon  proved,  that  potash  is  a  compound  of  five 
parts  by  weight  of  this  metal  and  one  part  of  oxygen. 
Potash,  then,  is  a  metallic  oxide.  He  proved  soon 
after  that  soda  is  a  compound  of  oxygen  and  another 
white  metal,  to  which  he  gave  the  name  of  sodium. 
Lime  is  a  compound  of  calcium  and  oxygen,  mag- 
nesia of  magnesium  and  oxygen,  barytes  of  bariutu 
and  oxygen,  and  strontian  of  sfronf  lum  and  oxygen. 
In  short,  the  fixed  alkalies  and  alkaline  earths,  are 
metallic  oxides.     When  lithia  was  afterwards  dis- 


OF   ELECTRO-CHEMISTRY.  265 

covered  by  Arfvedson,  Davy  succeeded  in  decom- 
posing it  also  by  the  galvanic  battery,  and  resolving 
it  into  oxygen  and  a  white  metal,  to  which  the  name 
of  lithium  was  given. 

Davy  did  not  succeed  so  well  in  decomposing 
alumina,  glucina,  yttria,  and  zirconia,  by  the  gal- 
vanic battery :  they  were  not  sufficiently  good  con- 
ductors of  electricity ;  but  nobody  entertained  any 
doubt  that  they  also  were  metallic  oxides.  They 
have  been  all  at  length  decomposed,  and  their  bases 
obtained  by  the  joint  action  of  chlorine  and  potas- 
sium, and  it  has  been  demonstrated,  that  they  also 
are  metallic  oxides.  Thus  it  has  been  ascertained, 
in  consequence  of  Davy's  original  discovery  of  the 
powers  of  the  galvanic  battery,  that  all  the  bases 
formerly  distinguished  into  the  four  classes  of  alka- 
lies, alkaline  earths,  earths  proper,  and  metallic 
oxides,  belong  in  fact  only  to  one  class,  and  are 
all  metallic  oxides. 

Important  as  these  discoveries  are,  and  sufficient 
as  they  would  have  been  to  immortalize  the  author 
of  them,  they  are  not  the  only  ones  for  which  we 
are  indebted  to  Sir  Humphry  Davy.  His  experi- 
ments on  chlorine  are  not  less  interesting  or  less  im- 
portant in  their  consequences.  I  have  already  men- 
tioned in  a  former  chapter,  that  Berthollet  made  a 
set  of  experiments  on  chlorine,  from  which  he  had 
drawn  as  a  conclusion,  that  it  is  a  compound  of 
oxygen  and  muriatic  acid,  in  consequence  of  which 
it  got  the  name  of  oxymuriatic  ctdd.  This  opinion 
of  Berthollet  had  been  universally  adopted  by  che- 
mists, and  admitted  by  them  as  a  fundamental  prin- 
ciple, till  Gay-Lussac  and  Thenard  endeavoured,  un- 
successfully, to  decompose  this  gas,  or  to  resolve  it 
into  muriatic  acid  and  chlorine.  They  showed,  in 
the  clearest  manner,  that  such  a  resolution  was  im- 
possible, and  that  no  direct  evidence  could  be  ad- 


S60-  HlfftORT  or  CnZMISTttT. 

dnced  to  prove  that  oxygea  was  one  of  its  coosti' 
tuents.  The  conclusion  to  which  they  came  was,' 
tluit  muriatic  acid  gas  contained  water  as  an  esaeatial 
constituent ;  and  they  succeeded  by  this  hypothesii 
in  accounting  for  all  the  different  phenomena  which 
they  had  observed.  Tliey  even  made  an  experiment 
to  determine  the  quantity  of  water  thus  combined. 
l^ey  passed  muriatic  acid  tbroiigh  hot  litharge 
(protoxide  of  lead);  muriate  of  lead  was  formed, 
and  abnndance  of  water  made  its  appearance  and 
wa3  collected.  They  did  not  attempt  to  determine 
the  proportions;  but  we  can  now  easily  calculate  tlw 
quantity  of  water  which  would  be  deposited  when 
a  ^ven  weight  of  muriatic  acid  gas  is  absorbed  by  a 
given  wei^t  of  lithai^e.  Suppose  we  have  fourteen 
parts  of  oxide  of  lead :  to  convert  it  into  muriate  of 
lead,  4'6'2,')  parts  (by  weight)  of  muriatic  acid  would  ■ 
be  necessary,  and  during  the  formation  of  the  mn- 
riateof  lead  there  would  be  deposited  1-125  parts 
of  water.  So  that  from  this  experiment  it  migbt  be 
concluded,  that  about  one-fourth  of  the  weight  of 
muriatic  acid  gas  is  water. 

Tlie  very  curious  and  important  facts  respecting 
chlorine  and  muriatic  acid  gas  which  they  had  ascer- 
tdned,  were  made  known  by  Gay-Lussac  and  The- 
nard  to  the  Institute,  on  the27th  of  February,  1809, 
and  an  abstract  of  them  was  published  in  thesecond 
volume  of  the  Memoires  d'Arcueil.  There  can 
be  little  doubt  that  it  was  in  consequence  of  thesa 
curious  and  important  experiments  of  the  French 
chemists  that  Davy's  attention  was  again  turned  to 
mnriatic  acid  gas.  He  had  already,  in  1808,  shown 
that  when  potassium  is  heated  in  muriatic  acid  gas, 
muriate  of  potash  is  formed,  and  a  quantity  of  hy- 
drogen gas  evolved,  amountiag  to  more  than  one- 
third  of  the  muriatic  acid  gas  employed,  and  he  had 
shown,  that  in  no  case  can  muriatic  acid  be  obtuned 


OF  £I.ECTKO-CU£MISTRT.  m^67 

ftom  chlorine,  tmless  water  or  its  elements  be  pre- 
Bent.  This  last  conclusion  had  been  amply  con- 
iinBed  by  the  new  investigations  of  Gay-Lussac  and 
Thenard.  In  1810  Davy  again  resumed  the  exa- 
mination of  the  subject,  and  in  July  of  that  year 
lead  a  paper  to  the  Royal  Society,  to  prove  that 
€klorine  is  a  simple  substance,  and  that  muriatic 
acid  is  a  compound  of  chlorine  and  hydrogen, 

Tkd&  wa»  introducing  an  alteration  in  chemical 
llieory  of  the  same  kind,  and  nearly  as  important, 
as  was  introduced  by  Lavoisier,  ivith  respect  to  the 
actioai  of  oxygen  in  Uie  processes  of  combustion  and 
eafeinadon.  It  had  been  previously  supposed  that 
t&lphur,  phosphorus,  charcoal,  and  metals,  were 
compounds;  one  of  the  constituents  of  which  was 
plilogistDn,  and  the  other  the  acids  or  oxides  which 
vemamed  aiter  the  combustion  or  calcination  had 
tdoen  place.  Lavoisier  showed  that  the  sulphur, 
{ihoQ^horus,  charcoal,  and  metals,  were  simple  sub- 
stances ;  and  that  the  acids  Q€  cmlces  formed  wece 
tmnpounds  of  th6s6  simple  bodies  and  oxygen.  In 
i&e  manner,  Davy  showed  that  chlorine,  instead  of 
a  -compound  of  muriatic  acid  and  oxygen, 
m  l^t,  a  simple  substance,  and  muriatic  acid 
a -compound  of  chlorine  and  hydrogen.  This  new 
doctrine  immediately  overturned  the  Lavoisierian 
hypothesis  respecting  oxygen  as  the  acidifying  prin- 
ci|iie,  and  altered  ail  the  previously  received  notions 
cespecting  l^e  muriates.  What  had  been  called 
mnriaies  were,  in  faot,  combinations  of  chlorine  mKk 
the  combustible  or  metal,  and  were  analagons  to 
iMudes.  Thus,  when  muriatic  acid  gas  was  maite  to 
act  lapoa  hot  litharge,  a  double  decomposition  took 
fteoe,  liie  chlorine  united  to  the  lead,  while  the  hy- 
dvocen  of  the  muriatic  acid  united  with  the  oxygen 
af  rae  lithar^,  and  formed  water.  Hence  the  reason 
9iAe  appearance  of  water  in  this  case ;  and  henoe 


I 


07  CBEwsraT.  ■ 

it  was  obvious  that  what  had  been  called  muriate  of  * 
lead,  was,  in  reality,  a  compound  of  clilorine  and 
metallic  lead.     It  ought,  therefore,  to  be  called,  , 
not  muriate  of  lead,  but  chloride  of  lead. 

It  was  not  likely  that  this  new  opinion  of  Davy  * 
should  be  adopted  by  chemists  in  general,  without 
a  struggle  to  support  the  old  opinions.  But  the  • 
feebleness  of  the  controversy  which  ensued,  afibrde  ■ 
a  striking  proof  how  much  chemistry  had  advanced 
since  the  days  of  Lavoisier,  and  how  free  from  pre-  ■ 
judices  chemists  had  become.  One  would  have  ex.- 
pected  that  the  French  chemists  would  have  made 
the  greatest  resistance  to  the  admission  of  these  new 
opinions ;  because  they  had  a  direct  tendency  to 
diminish  the  reputation  of  two  of  their  most  eminent 
chemists,  Lavoisier  and  Berthollet.  But  the  fact 
was  not  so :  the  French  chemists  showed  a  de~ 
gree  of  candour  and  liberality  which  redounds 
highly  to  their  credit.  Bettiiollet  did  not  enter  at 
all  into  the  controversy.  Gay-I-ussac  and  Thenard, 
in  their  Recherches  Physico-chimlqiies,  published 
in  1811,  state  their  reasons  for  preferring  the 
old  hypothesis  to  the  new,  but  with  great  modesty 
and  fairness;  and,  within  less  than  a  year  after,  they 
both  adopted  the  opinion  of  Davy,  that  chlorine  is 
a  simple  substance,  and  muriatic  acid  a  compound 
of  hydrogen  and  chlorine. 

The  only  opponents  to  the  new  doctrine  who  ap- 
peared against  it,  were  Dr.  John  Murray,  of  Edin-  - 
buigh,  and  Professor  Berzelius,  of  Stockholm.  Dr. 
Murray  was  a  man  of  excellent  abilities,  and  a  very 
zealous  cultivator  of  chemistry ;  but  his  health  had 
been  always  very  delicate,  which  had  prevented  him 
from  dedicating  so  much  of  his  time  to  experiment- 
ing as  he  otherwise  would  have  been  inclined  to  do. 
The  only  experimental  investigations  into  which  ha 
entered  was  the  analysis  of  some  mineral  waters. 


OF  ELECTRO-CHEMISTRY.  269 

His  powers  of  elocution  were  great.  He  was,  in 
consequence,  a  popular  and  very  useful  lecturer. 
He  published  animadversions  upon  the  new  doctrine 
Inspecting  chlorine,  in  Nicholson*s  Journal ;  and 
bis  observations  were  answered  by  Dr.  John  Davy. 

Dr.  John  Davy  was  the  brother  of  Sir  Humphry, 
«nd  had  shown,  by  his  paper  on  fluoric  acid  and  on 
the  chlorides,  that  he  possessed  the  same  dexterity 
and  the  same  powers  of  inductive  reasoning,  which 
Iwd  given  so  much  celebrity  to  his  brother.  The 
controversy  between  him  and  Dr.  Murray  was  carried 
on  for  some  time  with  much  spirit  and  ingenuity  on 
both  sides,  and  was  productive  of  some  advantage 
to  the  science  of  chemistry,  by  the  discovery  of  phos- 
gene gas  or  chlorocarbonic  acid,  which  was  made 
DT  Dr.  Davy.  It  is  needless  to  say  to  what  side  the 
Tictory  fell.  The  whole  chemical  world  has  for 
severid  years  unanimously  adopted  the  theory  of 
Davy  ;  showing  sufficiently  the  opinion  entertained 
lespecting  the  arguments  advanced  by  either  party. 
Berzelius  supported  the  old  opinion  respecting  the 
compound  nature  of  chlorine,  in  a  paper  which  he 
published  in  the  Annals  of  Philosophy.  No  per- 
son thought  it  worth  while  to  answer  his  arguments, 
though  Sir  Humphry  Davy  made  a  few  animad- 
versions upon  one  or  two  of  his  experiments.  The 
discovery  of  iodine,  which  took  place  almost  imme- 
diately after,  afforded  so  close  an  analogy  with 
cUorine,  and  the  nature  of  the  compounds  which  it 
finrms  was  so  obvious  and  so  well  made  out,  that 
chemists  were  immediately  satisfied ;  and  they  fur- 
nished so  satisfactory  an  answer  to  all  the  objections 
of  Berzelius,  that  I  am  not  aware  of  any  person, 
either  in  Great  Britain  or  in  France,  who  adopted 
his  opinions.  I  have  not  the  same  means  of  know- 
ing the  impression  which  his  paper  made  upon  the 
or  Germany  and  Sweden.    Berzelius  con« 


r  cuKMisrar. 


tinued  for  several  vean  a  very  zealous  oppottent  ts 
n  doctrine,  that  chlorioe  \&  a  simple  subGtaoce. 
But  be  became  at  last  satisfied  of  the  futility  of  hii 
own  objections,  aud  the  inaccuracy  of  his  reasoning. 
About  the  year  1S20  he  embraced  the  opitiioD  of 
Davy,  and  is  now  one  of  its  most  zealous  defenders. 
Dr.  Murray  has  been  dead  for  many  years,  and  Bcr-* 
zelius  has  renounced  his  notion,  that  muriatic  acid  is 
a  ccimponnd  of  o»ygen  and  an  unknown  combus- 
tible basis.  We  may  say  then,  1  believe  with  jas- 
tice,  that  at  present  all  the  chemical  world  adopts 
the  notion,  that  chlorine  is  a  simple  substance,  and 
muriatic  acid  a  compound  of  chlorine  and  hydrogen. 
The  recent  discovery  of  bromine,  by  Balard,  has 
added  another  strong  analt^  in  favour  of  Davy's 
theory ;  aa  has  likewise  the  discovery  by  Gay- 
LuBsac  respecting  prussic  acid.  At  present,  then, 
(not  reckoning  sulphuretted  and  telluretted  hydn^en 
gas),  we  are  acquainted  with  four  acids  which  con- 
tain  no  oxygen,  but  are  compounds  of  hydrogen 
with  another  negative  body.     These  are 

Muriatic  acid,  composedofchlorineand  hydrogen. 
Hydriodic  acid    ■     .     .     iodine  and  hydrogen 
Hydrobromic  acid  .     .     bromine  and  hydrogen 
PruHsic  acid  ....     cyanogen  and  hydrogen. 
So  that  even  if  we  were  to  leave  out  of  view  the 
chlorine  acids,  the   sulphur  acids,  &c.,  no  doubt 
can  be  entertained  that  many  acids  exist  which  con- 
tain no  oxygen.     Acids  are  compounds  of  electro- 
negative bodies  and  a  base,  and  in  them  all  the 
electro-negative  electricity  continues  to  predomi- 
nate. 

Next  to  Sir  Humphry  Davy,  the  two  chemists 
who  have  most  advanced  electro-chemistry  arc  Gay- 
Lussac  and  Thcnard.  About  the  year  1808,  when 
the  attention  of  men  of  science  was  particularly 
diawii  towards  the  galvanic  battery,  in  coosequence 


OF  XI«ECTRO-CH£MIST&Y.  271 

o£  the  8|dendki  discoreries  of  Sir  Humphry  Darj, 
Booa^Mutey  who  ^as  at  that  time  Emperor  of  France, 
consigned  a  sufficient  sum  of  money  to  Count  Cessac, 
governor  of  the  Polytechnic  School,  to  construct  a 
powerful  galvanic  battery ;  and  Gay-Lussac  and 
Thenard  were  appointed  to  make  the  requisite  ex* 
periments  with  this  battery.  It  was  impossible  that 
a  better  choice  could  have  been  made.  These  gen- 
tLemen  undertook  a  most  elaborate  and^  extensive 
set  of  experiments,  the  result  of  which  'was  pub- 
lished in  1811,  in  two  octavo  volumes,  under  the 
title  of  ''  Recherches  Physico-chimiques,  faites  sur 
la  Pile;  sur  la  Preparation  chimique  et  les  Pro-^ 
piietes  du  Potassium  et  du  Sodium ;  sur  la  Decom- 
position de  FAcideboracique;  sur  les  Acides  fluorique, 
uuriatique,  et  muriatique  oxygene;  sur  TActioa 
chimique  de  la  Lumi^re ;  sur  TAnalyse  vegetale 
et  animale,  &c."  It  would  be  difficult  to  name  any 
chemical  book  that  contains  a  greater  number  of 
mem  fiEicts,  or  which  contains  so  great  a  collection  of 
important  information,  or  which  has  contributed 
more  to  the  advancenient  of  chemical  science. 

The  first  part  contains  a  very  minute  and  inte- 
resting examination  of  the  galvanic  battery,  and 
Wjpaa  what  circumstances  its  energy  depends.  They 
tried  the  effect  of  various  liquid  conductors,  varied 
the  strength  of  the  acids  and  of  the  saline  solutions* 
This  division  of  their  labours  contains  much  valuable 
information  for  the  practical  electro-chemist,  though 
it  would  be  inconsistent  with  the  plan  of  this  work 
to  enter  into  details. 

The  next  division  of  tlie  work  relates  to  potassium* 
Davy  had  hitherto  produced  that  metal  only  in  mi- 
nute quantities  by  the  action  of  the  galvanic  battery 
upon  potash.  But  Gay-Lussac  and  Thenard  con* 
tmed  a  process  by  which  it  can  be  prepared  on  a 
Itapi    scale    by    chemical    decomposition*    Their 


I 
I 

I 

I 


method  was,  lo  put  into  a  bent  gnu-barrel,  weU 
coated  extemallv  with  t^laj,  and  passed  through  a 
furnace,  a  quantity  of  clean  iron-tiling.  To  one 
extremrty  of  this  barrel  was  fitted  a  tube  containing 
a  quantity  of  caustic  potash.  This  tube  was  either 
shut  at  one  end  by  a  stopper,  or  by  a  glass  tube 
luted  to  it,  and  plunged  under  tlie  surface  of  mer- 
cury. To  llie  other  extremity  of  the  gnn-barr^ 
was  also  luted  a  tube,  which  pluuged  into  a  vessel 
containing  mercury.  Heat  was  applied  to  the  gun* 
barrel  till  it  was  heated  to  whiteness ;  then,  by  means 
of  a  choffer,  the  caustic  protash  was  melted  and  made 
to  trickle  slowly  into  the  white-hot  iron-filings. 
At  this  temperature  the  potash  undergoes  decom- 
position, the  iron  uniting  with  its  oxygen.  The 
potassium  is  disengaged,  and  being  volatile  is  de- 
posited at  a  distance  from  the  hot  part  of  the  tube, 
where  it  is  collected  after  the  process  is  fini^ed. 

Being  thus  in  possession,  both  of  potassium  and 
sodium  in  considerable  quantities,  they  were  en- 
abled to  examine  its  properties  more  in  detail  than 
Davy  had  done  :  but  such  was  the  care  and  in- 
dustry with  which  Davy's  experiments  had  been 
made  that  very  little  remained  to  be  done.  The 
specific  gravity  of  the  two  metals  was  determined 
with  more  precision  than  it  was  possible  for  Davy  to 
do.  They  detennined  the  action  of  these  metals  on 
water,  and  measured  the  quantity  of  hydrogen  gas 
given  out  with  more  precision  than  Davy  could. 
They  discovered  also,  by  heating  these  metals  in 
oxygen  gas,  that  they  were  capable  of  uniting  with 
an  additional  dose  of  oxygen,  and  of  forming  per- 
oxides of  potassium  and  sodium.  These  oxides 
have  a  yellow  colour,  and  give  out  the  surplus 
oxygen,  and  are  brought  back  to  the  state  of  potash 
and  soda  when  they  are  plunged  into  water.  They 
exposed  a  great  variety  of  substances  to  the  action 


OT  ELECTRO-CHEMISTRY.  273 

of  potassium,  and  brought  to  light  a  vast  number  of 
curious  and  important  facts,  tending  to  throw  new 
light  on  the  properties  and  characters  of  that  curious 
metallic  substance. 

By  heating  together  anhydrous  boracic  acid  and 
potassium  in  a  copper  tube,  they  succeeded  in  de- 
composing the  acid,  and  in  showing  it  to  be  a  com- 
pound of  oxygen,  and  a  black  matter  like  cheur- 
coal,  to  which  the  name  of  boron  has  been  gjiven. 
Tliey  examined  the  properties  of  boron  in  detail,  but 
did  not  succeed  in  determining  with  exactness  the 
proportions  of  the  constituents  of  boracic  acid.  The 
subsequent  experiments  of  Davy,  though  not  exact, 
C(»ne  a  good  deal  nearer  the  truth. 

Their  experiments  on  fluoric  acid  are  exceedingly 
valuable.  They  first  obtained  that  acid  in  a  state  of 
purity,  and  ascertained  its  properties.  Their  at- 
tempts to  decompose  it  as  well  as  those  of  Davy, 
ended  in  disappointment.  But  Ampere  conceived 
the  idea  that  this  acid,  like  muriatic  acid,  is  a  com- 
pound of  hydrogen  with  an  unknown  supporter  of 
combustion,  to  which  the  name ^worine  was  given. 
This  opinion  was  adopted  by  Davy,  and  his  ex- 
periments, though  they  do  not  absolutely  prove  the 
truth  of  the  opinion,  give  it  at  least  considerable 
probability,  and  have  disposed  chemists  in  general 
to  adopt  it.  The  subsequent  researches  of  Berze- 
lius,  while  they  have  added  a  great  deal  to  our 
former  knowledge  respecting  fluoric  acid  and  its  com- 
pounds, have  all  tended  to  confirm  and  establish  the 
doctrine  that  it  is  a  hydracid,  and  similar  in  its 
nature  to  the  other  hydracids.  But  such  is  the 
tendency  of  fluorine  to  combine  with  every  sub- 
stance, that  hitherto  it  has  been  impossible  to  ob- 
tain it  in  an  insulated  state.  We  want  therefore, 
still,  a  decisive  proof  of  the  accuracy  of  the  opinion. 

To  the  experiments  of  Gkiy-Lussac  and  Thenaid 

VOL,  II.  T 


274  HISTORY  OF  CHEMISTHT. 

on  chloriDe  and  muriatic  acid,  I  have  already  al- 
luded in  a  former  part  of  this  chapter.  It  was 
during  their  investigations  connected  with  this  sub- 
ject, that  they  di&co\ ered  Jluoboric  acid  gas,  which 
certainly  adds  considerably  to  the  probability  of  the 
theory  of  Ampere  respecting  the  nature  of  fluoric 
acid. 

I  pass  over  a  vast  number  of  other  new  and  im- 
portant facts  and  observations  contained  in  this  ad- 
mirable work,  which  ought  to  be  studied  with  mi- 
nute attention  by  every  person  who  aspires  at  be- 
coming a  chemist. 

Besides  the  numerous  discoveries  contained  in  the 
Recherches  Physico-chimique,  Gay-Lussac '  is  the 
author  of  two  of  so  much  importance  that  it  would 
be  wrong  to  omit  them.  He  showed  that  cyanogen 
is  one  of  the  constituents  of  prussic  acid ;  succeeded 
in  determining  the  composition  of  cyanogen,  and 
showing  it  to  be  a  compound  of  two  atoms  of  carbon 
and  one  atom  of  azote.  Prussic  acid  is  a  com- 
pound of  one  atom  of  hydrogen  and  one  atom  of 
cyanogen.  Sulpho-cyanic  acid,  discovered  by  Mr. 
Porrett,  is  a  compound  of  one  atom  sulphuric,  and 
one  atom  cyanogen ;  chloro-cyanic  acid,  discovered 
by  Berthollet,  is  a  compound  of  one  atom  chlorine 
and  one  atom  cyanogen ;  while  cyanic  acid,  dis- 
covered by  Wohler,  is  a  compound  of  one  atom 
oxygen  and  one  atom  cyanogen.  I  take  no  notice 
of  the  fulminic  acid ;  because,  although  Gay-Lus- 
sac's  experiments  are  exceedingly  ingenious,  and 
his  reasoning  very  plausible,  it  is  not  quite  con- 
vincing ;  especially  as  the  results  obtained  by  Mr. 
Edmund  Davy,  and  detailed  by  him  in  his  late  inte- 
resting memoir  on  this  subject,  are  somewhat  different* 
The  other  discovery  of  Gay-Lussac  is  his  de- 
monstration of  the  peculiar  nature  of  iodine,  his  ac-> 
oount  of  4odic  ana  hydriodic  acids,  and  of  many 


OF  ELSCTBO-CHEMISTRT.  275 

Other  compounds  into  which  that  carious  substance 
enters  as  a  constituent.  Sir  H.  Davy  was  occu- 
pied with  iodine  at  the  same  time  with  Gay-Lussac ; 
and  his  sagacity  and  inventive  powers  were  too  great 
to  allow  him  to  woriL  upon  such  a  substance  without 
discovering  many  new  and  interesting  facts. 

To  M.  THenard  we  are  indebted  for  the  discovery 
of  the  important  fact,  that  hydrogen  is  capable  of 
combining  with  twice  as  much  oxygen  as  exists  in 
water,  and  determining  the  properties  of  this  curious 
liquid  which  has  been  called  deutoxide  of  hydrogen. 
It  possesses  bleaching  properties  in  perfection,  and 
I  diink  it  likely  that  chlorine  owes  its  bleaching 
powers  to  the  formation  of  a  little  deutoxide  of  hy- 
drogen in  consequence  of  its  action  on  water. 

The  mantle  of  Davy  seems  in  some  measure  to 
have  descended  on  Mr.  Faraday,  who  occupies  his 
old  place  at  the  Royal  Institution.  He  has  shown 
equal  industry,  much  ss^acity,  and  great  powers  of 
invention.  The  most  important  discovery  connect- 
ed with  electro-magnetism ,  next  to  the  great  fact, 
for  which  we  are  indebted  to  Professor  ^rstedt  of 
Copenhs^n,  is  due  to  Mr.  Faraday;  I  mean  the 
rotation  of  the  electric  wires  round  the  magnet.  To 
him  we  owe  the  knowledge  of  the  fact,  that 
several  of  the  gases  can  be  condensed  into  liquids 
by  the  united  action  of  pressure  and  cold,  which 
has  removed  the  barrier  that  separated  gaseous 
bodies  from  vapours,  and  shown  us  that  all  owe  their 
elasticity  to  the  same  cause.  To  him  also  we  owe 
the  knowledge  of  the  important  fact,  that  chlorine  is 
capable  of  combining  with  carbon.  This  has  con- 
siderably improved  the  history  of  chlorine  and  served 
still  further  to  throw  new  light  on  the  analogy  which 
exists  between  all  the  supporters  of  combustion. 
They  are  doubtless  all  of  them  capable  of  combining 
with  every  one  of  the  other  simple  bodies,  and  of 

t2 


2(76  HISTORY   or  CHEMISTRY. 

forming  compounds  with  them.  For  they  are  all 
negative  bodies ;  while  the  other  simple  substances 
wi&out  exception,  when  compared  to  them,  possess 
poiitive  properties.  We  must  therefore  view  the 
tustory  of  chemistry  as  incomplete,  till  we  have  be- 
come acquainted  with  the  compounds  of  every  sup- 
porter with  every  simple  base. 


or  TBS  ATomc  THsomT*  S77 


CHAPTER    VL 


OF  TBS  ATOMIC  TBXOmT. 


I  COME  now  to  the  last  improvement  which  che- 
mistry has  received— an  improvement  which  hat 
nven  a.  degree  of  accuracy  to  chemical  experiment- 
mg  almost  approaching  to  mathematical  precision, 
which  has  simplified  prodigiously  our  views  respect- 
ing chemical  combinations ;  which  has  enabled  ma- 
nufacturers to  introduce  theoretical  improvements 
into  their  processes,  and  to  regulate  with  almost 
perfect  precision  the  relative  quantities  of  the  va*> 
rious  constituents  necessary  to  produce  the  intended 
effects.  The  consequence  of  this  is,  that  nothing  is 
wasted,  nothing  is  thrown  away.  Chemical  pro- 
ducts have  become  not  only  better  in  quality,  but 
more  abundant  and  much  cheaper.  I  idlude  to  the 
atomic  theory  still  only  in  its  infancy,  but  already 
productive  of  the  most  important  benefits.  It  is 
destined  one  day  to  produce  still  more  wonderful 
effects,  and  to  render  chemistry  not  only  the  most 
delightful,  but  the  most  useful  and  indispensable,  of 
all  the  sciences. 

like  all  other  great  improvements  in  science,  the 
atomic  theory  developed  itself  by  degrees,  and  sa^ 
yeral  of  the  older  chemists  ascertained  facts  which 
might,  had  they  been  aware  of  their  importance, 
kftve  led  them  to  conclusions  similar  to  those  of  the 


aiSTOKT  OF  CBEinsrST. 

moderns.  The  very  attempt  to  analyze  the  salts 
was  an  acknowledgment  that  bodies  united  with  each 
other  in  definite  proportions :  and  tb^e  definite  pro-     ] 

Enions,  had  they  been  followed  out,  would  have 
1  ultimately  to  the  doctrine  of  atoms.  For  how 
could  it  be,  that  six  parts  of  potash  were  always  sa- 
turated by  five  parts  of  sulphuric  acid  and  6-75  parts 
of  nitric  acid  ?  How  came  it  that  five  of  sulphuric 
acid  always  went  as  far  in  saturating  potash  as  6'75 
of  nitric  acid?  It  was  known,  tbat  in  chemical  | 
combinations  it  was  the  ultimate  particles  of  matter 
that  combined.  The  simple  explanation,  therefore, 
would  have  been — tbat  the  weight  of  an  nltimate  1 
particle  of  sulphuric  acid  was  only  fire,  while  that 
of  an  ultimate  particle  of  nitric  acid  was  6'75.  Had 
such  an  inference  been  drawn,  it  would  have  led 
directly  to  the  atomic  theory. 

The  atomic  theory  in  chemistry  has  many  points 
of  resemblance  to  the  fluxionary  calculus  in  mathe- 
matics. Both  give  us  the  ratios  of  quantities ;  both 
reduce  investi^tions  that  would  be  otherwise  ex- 
tremely difficult,  or  almost  impossible,  to  the  ut- 
most simplicity ;  and  what  is  still  more  curious,  both 
have  been  subjected  to  the  same  kind  of  ridicule  by 
those  who  have  not  put  themselves  to  the  trouble  of 
studying  them  with  such  attention  as  to  underetand 
them  completely.  The  minute  philosopher  of  Berke- 
ley, fR7itafis»ii(ran^is,mrght  he  applied  to  the  atomic 
theory  with  as  much  justice  as  to  the  fluxionary 
calculus ;  and  I  have  heard  more  than  one  indivi- 
dual attempt  to  throw  ridicule  upon  the  atomic 
theory  by  nearly  the  same  kind  of  arguments. 

The  first  chemists,  then,  who  attempted  to  analyze 
the  salts  may  he  considered  as  contributing  towards 
laying  the  foundation  of  the  atomic  theory,  though 
they  were  not  themselves  aware  of  the  importance 
of  the  structure  which  might  have  been  raised  upon 


OF  THE  ATOMIC   THEORY.  279 

their  experiments,  had  they  been  made  with  the  re- 
quisite precision. 

Bergman  was  the  first  chemist  who  attempted  re- 
gular analyses  of  salts.  It  was  he  that  first  tried  to 
establish  regular  formulas  for  the  analyses  of  mineral 
waters,  stones,  and  ores,  by  the  means  of  solution 
and  precipitation.  Hence  a  knowledge  of  the  con- 
stituents of  the  salts  was  necessary,  before  his  for- 
mulas could  be  applied  to  practice.  It  was  to  supply 
this  requisite  information  that  he  set  about  analyzing 
the  salts,  and  his  results  were  long  considered  by 
chemists  as  exact,  and  employed  by  them  to  deter- 
mine the  results  of  their  analyses.  We  now  know 
that  these  analytical  results  of  Bergman  are  far  from 
accurate;  they  have  accordingly  been  laid  aside  as 
useless :  but  this  knowledge  has  been  derived  from 
the  progress  of  the  atomic  theory. 

The  first  accurate  set  of  experiments  to  analyze 
the  salts  was  made  by  Wenzel,  and  published  by 
him  in  1777,  in  a  small  volume  entitled  **  Lehre  von 
der  Verwandschaft  der  Korper,"  or,  **  Theory  of 
the  Affinities  of  Bodies."  These  analyses  of  Wenzel 
are  infinitely  more  accurate  than  those  of  Bergman, 
and  indeed  in  many  cases  are  equally  precise  with 
the  best  which  we  have  even  at  the  present  day.  Yet 
the  book  fell  almost  dead-born  from  the  press  ;  Wen- 
zel's  results  never  obtained  the  confidence  of  chemists, 
nor  is  his  name  ever  quoted  as  an  authority.  Wenzel 
was  struck  with  a  phenomenon,  which  had  indeed 
been  noticed  by  preceding  chemists ;  but  they  had 
not  drawn  the  advantages  from  it  which  it  was  ca- 
pable of  affording.  There  are  several  saline  solu- 
tions which,  when  mixed  with  each  other,  completely 
decompose  each  other,  so  that  two  new  salts  are 
produced.  Thus,  if  we  mix  together  solutions  of 
nitrate  of  lead  and  sulphate  of  soda  in  the  requisite 
proportions,  the  sulphuric  acid  of  the  latter  salt  will 


280  HISTO&T  or  CBEMI8TRT* 

combine  with  the  oxide  of  lead  of  the  fonsier,  and 
will  form  with  it  sulphate  of  lead,  which  will  preci<> 
pitate  to  the  bottom  in  the  state  of  an  insoluble 
powder,  while  the  nitric  acid  formerly  united  to  the 
oxide  of  lead,  will  combine  with  the  soda  formerly 
in  union  with  the  sulphuric  acid,  and  form  nitrate  ch 
soda,  which  being  soluble,  will  remain  m  solution 
in  the  liquid.     Thus,  instead  of  the  two  old  salts, 

Sulphate  of  soda 

Nitrate  of  lead, 
we  obtain  the  two  new  salts, 

Sulphate  of  lead 

Nitrate  of  soda. 
If  we  mix  the  two  salts  in  the  requisite  proportions, 
the  decomposition  will  be  complete ;  but  if  there  be 
an  excess  of  one  of  the  salts,  that  excess  will  still 
remain  in  solution  without  affecting  the  result.     If 
we  suppose  the  two  salts  anhydrous,  then  the  pro- 
portions necessary  for  complete  decomposition  are. 
Sulphate  of  soda    9 
Nitrate  of  lead      20-75 


29-75 
and  the  quantities  of  the  new  salts  formed  will  be 
Sulphate  of  lead  19 
Nitrate  of  soda      10-75 


29-75 
We  see  that  the  absolute  weights  of  the  two  sets 
of  salts  are  the  same  :  all  that  has  happened  is,  that 
both  the  acids  and  both  the  bases  have  exchanged 
situations.  Now  if,  instead  of  mixing  these  two 
salts  together  in  the  preceding  proportions,  we 
employ 

Sulphate  of  soda    9 

Nitrate  of  lead      25-75 
That  is  to  say,  if  we  employ  5  parts  of  nitrate  of 


or  THE   ATOMIC   TBEORT.  281 

kid  more  than  is  sufficient  for  the  purpose;  we  shall 
haTe  exactly  the  same  decompositions  as  before; 
but  the  5  of  excess  of  nitrate  of  lead  will  remain  in 
solution,  mixed  with  the  nitrate  of  soda.  There  will 
be  precipitated  as  before, 

Sulphate  of  lead  1 9 
and  there  will  remain  in  solution  a  mixture  of 

Nitrate  of  soda  10*76 

Nitrate  of  lead      5 
The  phenomena  are  precisely  the  same  as  before ; 
the  additional  5  of  nitrate  of  lead  have  occasioned 
no  alteration ;  the  decomposition  has  gone  on  just 
as  if  they  had  not  been  present. 

Now  the  phenomena  which  drew  the  particular 
attention  of  Wenzel  is,  that  if  the  salts  were  neutral 
before  being  mixed,  the  neutrality  was  not  affected 
by  the  decomposition  which  took  place  on  their  mix- 
ture.* A  salt  is  said  to  be  neutral  when  it  neither 
possesses  the  characters  of  an  acid  or  an  alkali. 
Acids  redden  veg-etable  blues,  while  alkalies  render 
them  green,  A  neutral  salt  produces  no  effect 
whatever  upon  vegetable  blues.  This  observation 
of  Wenzel  is  very  important :  it  is  obvious  that  the 
salts,  after  their  decomposition,  could  not  have  re- 
mained neutral  unless  the  elements  of  the  two  salts 
had  been  such  that  the  bases  in  each  just  saturated 
the  acids  in  either  of  the  salts. 

The  constituents  of  the  two  salts  are  as  follows : 

9       sulphate  of  soda  J   ^       ^Pj''"*^  *«'•* 

on  >7f    *.^    ^     r\    A      5   6'75  nitric  acid 
20-75  nitrate  of  lead     J  j^      oxideoflead. 


*  This  observation  is  not  without  exception.  It  does  not 
)M>ld  when  one  of  the  salts  is  a  phosphate  or  an  arseniate, 
and  this  is  the  cause  of  the  difficulty  attending  the  analysis  of 
these  genera  of  salts. 


28S  HI&TOBY   07  CHEinSTKT. 

Now  it  is  clear,  that  unless  5  sulphuric  acid  were 
just  eatKrated  by  4  soda  and  by  14  oxide  of  lead; 
and  6'75  of  nitric  acid  by  the  same  4  Eoda  and 
14  oxide  of  lead,  the  salts,  after  their  decom- 
position, could  not  have  preserved  their  neutrality. 
Had  4  Boda  reriuired  only  5'75  of  nitric  acid,  or  had 
14  oxide  of  lead  required  only  4  Bulphuric  acid,  to 
saturate  them,  the  liquid,  after  decomposition,  would 
have  contained  an  excess  of  acid.  As  no  such  ex- 
cess  exists,  it  is  clear  that  in  saturatino;  an  acid,  4 
soda  goes  exactly  as  far  as  14  oxide  of  lead ;  and 
that,  in  saturating  a  base,  5  sulphuric  acid  goes 
just  as  far  as  6'75  nitric  acid. 

Nothing  can  exhibit  in  a  more  striking  point  of 
view,  ihe  almost  despotic  power  of  fashion  and  au- 
thority over  the  minda  even  of  men  of  science,  and 
the  small  number  of  them  that  venture  to  tliink  for 
themselves,  than,  the  fact,  that  this  most  important 
and  luminous  explanation  of  Wenzel,  confirmed  by 
much  more  accurate  experiments  than  any  which 
chemistry  had  yet  seen,  is  scarcely  noticed  by  any 
of  his  contemporaries,  and  seems  not  to  have  at- 
tracted the  smallest  attention.  In  science,  it  is  as 
unfortunate  for  a  man  to  get  before  the  age  in  which 
he  lives,  as  to  continue  behind  it.  The  admirable  ex- 
planation of  combustion  by  Hooke,  and  the  import- 
ant experiments  on  combustion  and  respiration  by 
Mayow,  were  lost  upon  their  contemporaries,  and 
procured  them  little  or  no  reputation  whatever; 
while  the  same  theory,  and  the  same  experiments, 
advanced  by  Lavoisier  and  Priestley,  a  century  later, 
when  the  minds  of  men  of  science  wore  prepared  to 
receive  them,  raised  them  to  the  very  first  rank 
among  philosophers,  and  produced  a  revolution  in 
chemistry.  So  much  concern  has  fortune,  not 
merely  in  the  success  of  kings  and  conquerors,  but 
in  the  reputation  acquired  by  men  of  science. 


OF  THE  ATOMIC  THEORY.  283 

In  the  year  1792  another  labourer,  in  the  same 
department  of  chemistry,  appeared :  this  was  Jere> 
miah  Benjamin  Richter,  a  Prussian  chemist,  of 
"whose  history  I  know  nothing  more  than  that  his 
publications  were  printed  and  published  in  Breslau, 
from  which  I  infer  that  he  was  a  native  of,  or  at 
least  resided  in,  Silesia.  He  calls  himself  Assessor 
of  the  Royal  Prussian  Mines  and  Smeltinghouses, 
and  Arcanist  of  the  Commission  of  Berlin  Porcelain 
Manufacture.  He  died  in  the  prime  of  life,  on  the 
4th  of  May,  1807.  In  the  year  1792  he  published 
a  work  entitled  "  Anfansgriinde  der  Stochyometrie ; 
Oder,  Messkunst  Chymischer  Elemente  "  (Elements 
of  Stochiometry;  or,  the  Mathematics  of  the  Chemical 
Elements).  A  second  and  third  volume  of  this 
work  appeared  in  1793,  and  a  fourth  volume  in 
1794.  The  object  of  this  book  was  a  rigid  analysis 
of  the  different  salts,  founded  on  the  fact  just  men- 
tioned, that  when  two  salts  decompose  each  other, 
the  salts  newly  formed  are  neutral  as  well  as  those 
which  have  been  decomposed.  He  took  up  the 
subject  nearly  in  the  same  way  as  Wenzel  had  done, 
but  carried  the  subject  much  further ;  and  endea- 
voured to  determine  the  capacity  of  saturation  of  each 
acid  and  base,  and  to  attach  numbers  to  each,  indicat- 
ing the  weights  which  mutually  saturate  each  other. 
He  gave  the  whole  subject  a  mathematical  dress,  and 
endeavoured  to  show  that  the  same  relation  existed, 
between  the  numbers  representing  the  capacity  of 
saturation  of  these  bodies,  as  does  between  ceitain 
classes  of  figurate  numbers.  When  we  strip  the 
subject  of  the  mystical  form  under  which  he  pre- 
sented it,  the  labours  of  Richter  may  be  exhibited 
under  the  two  following  tables,  which  represent  the 
capacity  of  saturation  of  the  acids  and  bases^  ac- 
cording to  his  experiments. 


JIUmiT  OK  CHSMltTItT. 


I 


1     ACIDS 

2.     BASES 

Fluoric  acid  . 

427 

Alumina  .     . 

525 

Carbonic  .     . 

577 

Magcesia       . 

61S 

Sebacic     .     - 

706 

67* 

Muriatic   ,     , 

712 

Lime    .     .     . 

793 

Oxalic       .     . 

755 

Soda    .     .     . 

859 

Phospiioric     . 

079 

Stronlian  .     , 

1329 

Formic      .     . 

988 

Potash      .     . 

1605 

Sulphuric       . 

1000 

Barytes     .     . 

2222 

Succinic    .     . 

1209 

Nitric  .     .     . 

1405 

Acetic .     .     . 

1480 

Citric  .     .     . 
Tartaric     .     . 

1683 
1694 

To  understand  ihia  table,  it  is  only  necessary  to 
observe,  that  if  we  take  the  quantity  of  any  of  tlie 
acids  placed  after  it  in  the  table,  that  quantity  will 
be  exactly  saturated  by  the  weight  of  each  base  put 
after  it  in  the  second  column:  thus,  1000  of  sul- 
phuric acid  will  be  just  saturated  by  525  alumina, 
615  magnesia,  672  ammonia,  793  lime,  and  so  on. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  quantity  of  any  base  placed 
after  its  name  in  the  second  column,  will  be  just 
saturated  by  the  weight  of  each  acid  placed  after  its 
name  in  the  first  column :  thus,  793  parts  of  lime 
will  be  just  saturated  by  427  of  fluoric  acid,  577  of 
carbonic  acid,  706  of  sebacic  acid,  and  so  on. 

This  work  of  Richter  was  followed  by  a  periodical 
work  entitled  "  Ueber  die  neuern  Gefrenstande  der 
Chymie"  (On  the  New  Objects  of  Chemistry). 
This  work  was  begun  in  the  year  1792,  and  con- 
tinued in  twelve  ditlerent  numbers,  or  volumes,  to 
the  time  of  his  death  in  1807.' 


•  I  lisve  only  seen  eleven  parB  of  ttis  work,  the  Imt  oF 
which  appeared  in  1802  ;  but  I  belierc  that  a  tweinb  psrt  vas 
pnbliahpd  afterwards. 


Of  THK   ATOMIC  TBZOKT.  '  385 

Richter*8  labours  in  this  important  field  produced 
little  attention  as  those  of  Wenzel.  Gehlen 
ivfote  a  short  panegyric  upon  him  at  his  death, 
praising  his  views  and  panting  out  their  import* 
mnce ;  but  I  am  not  aware  of  any  individual,  either 
m  Germany  or  elsewhere,  who  adopted  Richter*s 
opinions  during  his  lifetime,  or  even  seemed  aware 
of  their  importance,  unless  we  are  to  except  Ber- 
tfaoUet,  who  mentions  them  with  approbation  in  his 
Chemical  Statics.  This  inattention  was  partly  owing 
to  the  great  want  of  accuracy  which  it  is  impossible 
not  be  sensible  of  in  Richter's  experiments.  He 
operated  upon  too  large  quantities  of  matter,  which 
indeed  was  the  common  defect  of  the  times,  and 
was  first  checked  by  Dr.  WoUaston.  The  dispute 
between  the  phlogistians  and  the  antiphlogistians, 
which  was  not  fully  settled  in  Richter*s  time,  drew 
the  attention  of  chemists  to  another  branch  of  the 
subject.  Richter  in  some  measure  went  before  the 
age  in  which  he  lived,  and  had  his  labours  not  been 
recalled  to  our  recollection  by  the  introduction  of 
atomic  theory,  he  would  probably  have  been  for* 
gotten,  like  Hooke  and  Mayow,  and  only  brought 
again  under  review  after  the  new  discoveries  in  the 
science  had  put  it  in  the  power  of  chemists  in 
general  to  appreciate  the  value  of  his  labours. 

It  is  to  Mr.  Dalton  that  we  are  indebted  for  the 
happy  and  simple  idea  from  which  the  atomic  theory 
originated. 

John  Dalton,  to  whose  lot  it  has  fallen  to  produce 
such  an  alteration  and  improvement  in  chemistry, 
was  bom  in  Westmorland,  and  belongs  to  that 
small  and  virtuous  sect  known  in  this  country  by 
the  name  of  Quakers.  When  very  young  he  lived 
with  Mr.  Gough  of  Kendal,  a  blind  philosopher,  to 
whom  he  read,  and  whom  he  assisted  in  his  philoso- 
phical investigations     It  was  here,  probably,  diat  he 


I 


acquired  a  considerable  part  of  his  education,  par- 
ticularly his  taste  for  mathematics.  For  Mr.  Gough 
was  remarkably  fond  of  mathematical  investigations, 
and  has  published  several  mathematical  papers  that 
do  him  credit.  From  Kendal  Mr.  Dalton  went  to 
Manchester,  about  the  beginning  of  the  present 
century,  and  commenced  teaching  elementary  ma- 
thematics  to  such  young  men  as  felt  inclined  to 
acquire  some  knowledge  of  that  important  subject. 
In  this  way,  together  with  a  few  courses  of  lectures 
on  chemistry,  which  he  has  occasionally  given  at 
the  Royal  Institution  in  London,  at  the  Institution 
in  Birmingham,  in  Manchester,  and  once  in  Edin- 
bui^'h  and  in  Glasgow,  he  has  contrived  to  support 
himself  for  more  than  thirty  years,  if  not  in  affluence, 
at  least  in  perfect  independence.  And  as  liis  de- 
sires have  always  been  of  the  most  moderate  kind, 
his  income  has  always  been  equal  to  his  wants,  la 
a  country  like  this,  where  so  much  wealth  abounds, 
and  where  so  handsome  a  yearly  income  was  sab- 
sci'ibed  to  enable  Dr.  Priestley  to  prosecute  his 
investigations  undisturbed  and  undistracted  by  tha 
necessity  of  providing  for  the  daily  wants  of  h\% 
family,  there  is  little  doubt  that  Mr.  Dalton,  had 
he  so  chosen  it,  might,  in  point  of  pecuniary  cir- 
cumstances, have  exhibited  a  much  more  brilliant 
figure.  But  he  has  displayed  a  much  nohler  mind 
by  the  career  which  he  has  chosen — equally  regard- 
less of  riches  as  the  most  celebrated  sages  of  an- 
tiquity, and  as  much  respected  and  beloved  by  his 
friends,  even  in  the  rich  commercial  town  of  Man- 
chester, as  if  he  were  one  of  the  greatest  and  most 
influential  men  in  the  country.  Towards  the  end' 
of  the  last  century,  a  literary  and  scientific  society 
had  been  established  in  Manchester,  of  which  Mr. 
Thomas  Henry,  the  translator  of  Lavoisier's  Essays, 
and  who  distinguished  himself  so  much  in  promoting 


OF  THE  ATOMIC  THEORY.  287 

the  introduction  of  the  new  mode  of  bleaching  into 
Lancashire,  was  long  president.  Mr.  Dalton,  who 
had  already  distinguished  himself  by  his  meteoro- 
logical observations,  and  particularly  by  his  account 
of  the  Aurora  Borealis,  soon  became  a  member  of 
the  society;  and  in  the  fifth  volume  of  their  Me- 
moirs, part  II.,  published  in  1802,  six  papers  of 
his  were  inserted,  which  laid  the  foundation  of  his 
future  celebrity.  These  papers  were  chiefly  con- 
nected with  meteorological  subjects;  but  by  far 
the  most  important  of  them  all  was  the  one  en- 
titled *'  Experimental  Essays  on  the  Constitution 
of  mixed  Gases ;  on  the  Force  of  Steam  or  Vapour 
from  water  and  other  liquids  in  different  temperatures, 
both  in  a  torricellian  vacuum  and  in  air ;  on  Eva- 
poration; and  on  the  Expansion  of  Gases  by 
Heat." 

From  a  careful  examination  of  all  the  circum- 
stances, he  considered  himself  as  entitled  to  infer, 
that  when  two  elastic  fluids  or  gases,  A  and  B,  are 
mixed  together,  there  is  no  mutual  repulsion  among 
their  particles ;  that  is,  the  particles  of  A  do  not 
repel  those  of  B,  as  they  do  one  another.  Con- 
sequently, the  pressure  or  whole  weight  upon  any 
one  particle  arises  solely  from  those  of  its  own  kind. 
This  doctrine  is  of  so  startling  a  nature  and  so 
contrary  to  the  opinions  previously  received,  that 
chemists  have  not  been  much  disposed  to  admit  it. 
But  at  the  same  time  it  must  be  confessed,  that 
no  one  has  hitherto  been  able  completely  to  refute 
it.  The  consequences  of  admitting  it  are  obvious: 
we  should  be  able  to  account  for  a  fact  which 
has  been  long  known,  though  no  very  satisfactory 
reason  for  it  had  been  assigned;  namely,  that  if 
two  gases  be  placed  in  two  separate  vessels,  com- 
municating by  a  narrow  orifice,  and  left  at  perfect 
rest  in  a  place  where  the  temperature  never  varies^ 


I 


funomr  or  chkmistrt. 

if  ««  exunine  them  after  a  certma  ioterral  of  tiaa 
we  ehall  find  both  equally  diffused  throngh  boih 
Tessels.  If  we  fill  a.  glass  phial  witb  hydrogira 
gu  and  another  phial  with  common  air  or  Ciirbaniii 
acid  g-AS  and  unite  the  two  phiaU  by  a  narrow  glass 
tube  two  feet  long,  filled  with  commoa  air,  and 
place  the  phial  containing  the  hydrogen  gas  upper- 
most, and  the  other  perpendicularly  below  it,  the 
hydrogen,  though  lightest,  will  not  remain  iu  tbe 
up;;er  phial,  nor  the  carbonic  acid,  though  heaviest, 
in  the  undermost  phial ;  but  we  shall  find  both 
gases  equally  diSused  through  both  phials. 

But  the  second  of  these  essays  h  bv  far  the  most 
important.  In  it  he  establishes,  by  the  most  un- 
exceptionable evidence,  that  water,  when  it  eva- 
porates, is  always  converted  into  an  elastic  fluid, 
similar  in  its  propcrtie^j  to  air.  But  that  the  dis< 
tance  between  the  particles  is  greater  the  lower  the 
temperature  is  at  which  the  water  evaporates.  The 
elasticity  of  this  vapour  increases  as  the  temperaHira 
increases.  At  32"  it  is  capable  of  balancing  a  co- 
lumn of  mercury  about  half  an  inch  in  height,  and 
at  212'^  it  balances  a  column  thirty  inches  high,  or 
it  is  then  equal  to  the  pressure  of  the  atmosphere. 
He  determined  the  elasticity  of  vapour  at  all  tem- 
peratures from  32o  to  212°,  pointed  out  the  method 
of  determining  the  quantity  of  vapour  that  at  any 
time  exists  in  the  atmosphere,  the  effect  which  il 
has  upon  the  volume  of  air,  and  the  mode  of  iie> 
termining  its  quantity.  Finally,  he  determined,  ex« 
perimentally,  the  rate  of  evaporatbn  from  the  sur- 
face of  water  at  all  temperatures  from  31*  to  214». 
These  investigations  have  been  of  infinite  use  to  che- 
mists in  ail  their  investigations  respecting  the  specific 
gravity  of  gases,  and  have  enabled  them  to  resolve  , 
various  interesting  problems,  both  respecting  apecifin 
gravity,    evaporation,   rain  and  respiration,  which, 


OF  THE  ATOMIC  THEORY.         289 

had  it  not  been  for  the  principles  laid  down  in  this 
essay y  would  have  eluded  their  grasp. 

In  the  last  essay  contained  in  this  paper  he  has 
shown  that  all  elastic  fluids  expand  the  same  quan- 
tity by  the  same  addition  of  heat,  and  this  expansion  is 
Tery  nearly  1 -480th  part  for  every  degree  of  Fahren- 
heit's thermometer.  In  this  last  branch  of  the  sub- 
ject Mr.  Dalton  was  followed  by  Gay-Lussac,  who, 
about  half  a  year  after  the  appearance  of  his  Essays, 
published  a  paper  in  the  Annales  de  Chimie,  show- 
ing that  the  expansion  of  all  elastic  fluids,  when 
equally  heated,  is  the  same.  Mr.  Dalton  concluded 
that  the  expansion  of  all  elastic  fluids  by  heat  is 
equable.  And  this  opinion  has  been  since  con- 
firmed by  the  important  experiments  of  Dulong  and 
Petit,  which  have  thrown  much  additional  light  on 
the  subject. 

In  the  year  1 804,  on  the  26th  of  August,  I  spent 
a  day  or  two  at  Manchester,  and  was  much  with 
Mr.  Dalton.  At  that  time  he  explained  to  me  his 
notions  respecting  the  composition  of  bodies.  I 
wrote  down  at  Uie  time  the  opinions  which  he 
offered,  and  the  following  account  is  taken  literally 
from  my  journal  of  that  date : 

The  ultimate  particles  of  all  simple  bodies  are 
atoms  incapable  of  further  division.  These  atoms 
(at  least  viewed  along  with  their  atmospheres  of 
heat)  are  all  spheres,  and  are  each  of  them  possessed 
of  particular  weights,  which  may  be  denoted  by 
numbers.  For  the  greater  clearness  he  represented 
the  atoms  of  the  simple  bodies  by  symbols.  The  fol- 
lowing are  his  symbols  for  four  simple  bodies,  to- 
gether w^th  the  numbers  attached  to  them  by  him 
in  1^04 : 

RdatiTe  weights. 

O  Oxygen 6'6 

O  Hydrogen 1 

VOL.  II.  u 


BunoiiY  or 


e^ityiPKti' 


RdaUveweigbu. 


•  CarboD 5 

<D  Aa)t« 5 

The  rollowing  s^mboU  represent  the  way  ia  whidi 
he  thought  these  atoms  were  conibiDed  to  form  cer- 
tain binary  compounds,  with  the  weight  of  an 
inte^ant  particle  of  each  compound : 


00  Water    .     .     . 
00  Nitrous  gas      . 
•e  Olefiant  gus     . 
(D0  Ammonia    . 
09  Carbonic  oxide 


7-5 
11-5 


11-5 


The  following  were  the  symboU  by  which  he  re- 
presented the  composition  of  certain  tertiary  com- 
pounds : 

©•O   Carbonic  acid  ...     18 
OCCO  Nitrous  oxide    .     .     .     16-5 
•0«  Ether 11 

©•©  Carburetted  hydrogen        7 

OCDO    Nitric  acid  ....     18 
A  quaternary  compound ; 

Og"^  Oxynitric  acid 
A  quinquenary  compound  : 

CDqCDO    Nitrous  acid 
A  sextenary  compound ; 

•0»    Alcohol.     . 

These  symbols  are  suiBcient  to  give  the  reader  a» 
idea  of  the  notions  entertained  by  Dalton  respecting 
the  nature  of  compounds.  Water  is  a  compound  of 
one   atom    oxygen    and  one   atom  hydrogen  as  is 


24-5 


29-5 


23-6 


or  THE  ATOMIC  TRSORT.  Ml 

obvious  from  the  symbol  O0*  I^  weight  7-5  is 
that  of  an  atom  of  oxygen  and  an  atom  of 
hydrogen  united  together.  In  the  same  way  car- 
bonic oxide  is  a  compound  of  one  atCMn  oxygen  and 
one  atom  carbon.  Its  symbol  is  0^9  ^md  its  weight 
11*5  is  equal  to  an  atom  of  oxygen  and  an  atom  of 
carbon  added  together.  Carbonic  acid  is  a  tertiary 
compound,  or  it  consists  of  three  atoms  united  to- 
gether ;  namely,  two  atoms  of  oxygen  and  one  atom 
of  carbon.  Its  symbol  is  O^O*  ^^^  i^  weight  18. 
A  bare  inspection  of  the  symbols  and  weights  will 
jnake  Mr.  Dalton's  notions  respecting  the  constitu- 
tion of  every  body  in  the  table  evident  to  every 
reader. 

It  was  this  happy  idea  of  representing  the  atoms 
and  constitution  of  bodies  by  symbols  that  gave  Mr* 
Dalton*s  opinions  so  much  clearness.  I  was  de- 
lighted with  the  new  light  which  immediately  struck 
my  mind,  and  saw  at  a  glance  the  immense  import- 
ance of  such  a  theory,  when  fully  developed.  Mr. 
Dalton  informed  me  that  the  atomic  theory  first  oc- 
curred to  him  during  his  investigations  of  defiant 
l^s  and  carburetted  hydrogen  gases,  at  that  time 
miperfectly  understood,  and  the  constitution  of 
wmch  was  fijrst  fully  developed  by  Mr.  Dalton  him- 
self. It  was  obvious  from  the  experiments  which  he 
made  upon  them,  that  the  constituents  of  both  were 
carbon  and  hydrogen,  and  nothing  else.  He  found 
further,  that  if  we  reckon  the  carbon  in  each  the 
same,  then  carburetted  hydrogen  gas  contains  ex- 
actly twice  as  much  hydrogen  as  defiant  gas  does. 
This  determined  him  to  state  the  ratios  of  these 
constituents  in  numbers,  and  to  consider  the  olefiant 
gas  as  a  compound  of  one  atom  of  carbon  and  one 
atom  of  hydrogen  ;  and  carburetted  hydrogen  of  one 
atom  of  carbon  and  two  atoms  of  hydrogen.  The 
idea  thus  conceived  was  applied  to  carbonic  oxide, 

u  2 


vater  ammonia,  &c. ;  and  numbers  representing  tlie 
atomic  weights  of  oxygen,  azote,  &c.,  deduced  from 
the  best  analytical  experiments  which  chemistry 
then  possessed. 

Let  not  the  reader  suppose  that  this  was  an  easy 
task.  Chemistry  at  thai  time  did  not  possess  a 
single  analysis  which  could  be  considered  aa  even 
approaching  to  accuracy.  A  vast  number  of  facts 
had  been  ascertained,  and  a  Sue  fouadatioD  laid  for 
{uture  investigation ;  but  nothing,  as  far  as  weight 
and  measure  were  concerned,  deserving  the  least 
confidence,  existed.  We  need  not  be  surprised,  then, 
that  Mr.  Dalton'a  first  numbers  were  not  exact.  It 
required  infinite  sagacity,  and  not  a  little  labour,  to 
come  so  near  the  truth  as  he  did.  How  could  ac- 
curate analyses  of  gases  be  made  when  there  was 
not  a  single  gas  whose  specific  gravity  was  known, 
with  even  an  approach  to  accuracy  ;  the  preceding 
investigations  of  Dalton  himself  paved  the  way  for 
accuracy  in  this  indispensable  department ;  but  still 
accurate  results  had  not  yet  been  obtained. 

In  the  third  edition  of'^my  System  of  Chemistry, 
published  in  1807,  1  introduced  a  short  sketch  of 
Mr.  Dalton 's  theory,  and  thus  made  it  known  to  the 
chemical  world.  The  same  year  a  paper  of  mine  on 
oxalic  acid  was  published  in  the  Philosophical  Trans- 
actions, in  which  I  showed  that  oxalic  acid  unites 
in  two  proportions  with  strontian,  forming  an  oxalate 
and  bittoxalate;  and  that,  supposing  the  strontian 
in  both  salts  to  be  the  same,  the  oxalic  acid  in  the 
latter  is  exactly  twice  aa  much  as  in  the  former. 
About  the  same  time,  Dr.  Wollaston  showed  that 
bicarbonate  of  potash  contains  ^just  twice  the  quan- 
.  tity  of  carbonic  acid  that  exists  m  carbonate  of  pot- 
ash; and  that  there  are  three  oxalates  of  potash;  viz., 
oxalate,  biaoxalate,  and  quadroxalate  ;  the  weight 
of  acids  in  each  of  which  are  as  the  numbers  1,2,4. 


OF   THE   ATOMIC   THEORY.  ^3 

These  facts  gradually  drew  the  attention  of  chemists 
to  Mr.  Dalton's  views.  There  were,  however,  some 
of  our  most  eminent  chemists  who  were  very  hostile 
to  the  atomic  theory.  The  most  conspicuous  of  these 
was  Sir  Humphry  Davy.  In  the  autumn  of  1807 
I  had  a  long  conversation  with  him  at  the  Royal 
Institution,  but  could  not  convince  him  that  there 
was  any  truth  in  the  hypothesis.  A  few  days  after 
I  dined  with  him  at  the  Royal  Society  Club,  at  the 
Crown  and  Anchor,  in  the  Strand.  Dr.  Wollaston 
was  present  at  the  dinner.  After  dinner  every  mem- 
ber of  the  club  left  the  tavern,  except  Dr.  Wollaston, 
Mr.  Davy,  and  myself,  who  staid  behind  and  had 
tea.  We  sat  about  an  hour  and  a  half  together, 
and  our  whole  conversation  was  about  the  atomic 
theory.  Dr.  Wollaston  was  a  convert  as  well  as 
myself ;  and  we  tried  to  convince  Davy  of  the  in- 
accuracy of  his  opinions;  but,  so  far  from  being 
convinced,  he  went  away,  if  possible,  more  preju- 
diced against  it  than  ever.  Soon  after,  Davy  met 
Mr.  Davis  Gilbert,  the  late  distinguished  presi- 
dent of  the  Royal  Society ;  and  he  amused  him 
with  a  caricature  description  of  the  atomic  theory, 
which  he  exhibited  in  so  ridiculous  a  light,  that  Mr. 
Gilbert  was  astonished  how  any  man  of  sense  or 
science  could  be  taken  in  with  such  a  tissue  of  ab- 
surdities. Mr.  Gilbert  called  on  Dr.  Wollaston 
(probably  to  discover  what  could  have  induced  a 
man  of  Dr.  Wollaston's  sagacity  and  caution  to 
adopt  such  opinions),  and  was  not  sparing  in  laying 
the  absurdities  of  the  theory,  such  as  they  had  been 
represented  to  him  by  Davy,  in  the  broadest  point 
of  view.  Dr.  Wollaston  begged  Mr.  Gilbert  to  sit 
down,  and  listen  to  a  few  facts  which  he  would  state 
to  him.  He  then  went  over  all  the  principal  facts 
at  that  time  known  respecting  the  salts ;  mentioned 
the  alkaline  carbonates  and  bicarbonates,  the  oxalate. 


I 


I 


394 

binoxalate,  aotl  quadrosalate  of  potash,  carbonic 
oside  and  carbonic  acid,  olefiant  gas,  and  carburetted 
hydrogen ;  and  doubtless  many  other  similar  com- 
pounds, in  which  the  proportion  of  one  of  the  con- 
stituents increases  in  a  regular  ratio.  Mr.  Gilbert 
went  away  a  convert  to  the  truth  of  the  atomic 
theory ;  and  he  had  the  merit  of  conyincin j  Davy 
that  his  former  opinions  on  the  subject  were  wrong. 
"What  arguments  he  employed  I  do  not  know;  but 
they  must  have  been  convincing  ones,  for  Davy  ever 
after  became  a  strenuous  supporter  of  the  atomic 
theory.  The  only  alteration  which  he  made  was  to 
substitute  proportion  for  Dalton's  word,  atom.  Dr. 
WoUaston  substituted  for  it  the  term  equivalent. 
The  object  of  these  substitutions  was  to  avoid  all 
theoretical  annunciations.  But,  in  fact,  these  terms, 
proportion,  eqaivalent,  are  neither  of  them  so  con- 
venient as  the  term  atom  :  and,  unless  we  adopt  the 
hypothesis  with  which  Daltoo  set  out,  namely,  that  ■ 
the  ultimate  particles  of  bodies  are  atoms  incapable 
of  further  division,  and  that  chemical  combination 
consists  in  the  union  of  these  atoms  with  each  other, 
we  lose  all  the  new  light  which  the  atomic  theory 
throws  upon  chemistry,  and  bring  our  notions  back 
to  the  obscurity  of  the  days  of  Bergman  and  of  Ber- 
thollet. 

In  the  year  1808  Mr.  Dalton  published  the  fitat 
volume  of  his  New  System  of  Chemical  Philosophy. 
This  volume  consists  chiefly  of  two  chapters :  the 
first,  on  keat,  occupies  140  pages.  In  it  he  treats 
of  all  the  effects  of  heat,  and  shows  the  same  saga- 
city and  originality  which  characterize  all  his  writings. 
Even  when  his  opinions  on  a  subject  are  not  correct, 
his  reasoning  is  so  ingenious  and  original,  and  the 
new  facts  which  he  contrives  to  bring  forward  so 
important,  that  we  are  always  pleased  and  always 
instructed.     The  second  chapter,  on  the  conslitutum 


or  THE  ATOMIC  TBEoar.  295 

of  bodies,  occupies  70  pages.  The  chief  object  of 
it  is  to  combat  the  peculiar  notions  respecting  elastic 
fluids,  which  had  been  advanced  by  Berthollet,  and 
supported  by  Dr.  Murray,  of  Edinburfrh,  In  the 
third  chapter,  on  chemical  synthesis,  which  occupiei 
oaly  a.  few  pages,  he  gives  ub  the  outlines  of  the 
atomic  theory,  such  as  he  had  conceived  it.  In  a 
^ateat  theead  of  the  volume  he  exhibits  the  symbols 
sod  atomic  weights  of  thirty-seven  bodies,  twenty 
of  which  were  then  considered  as  simple,  and  the 
Other  seventeen  as  compound.  The  following  table 
(hows  the  atomic  weight  of  the  simple  bodies,  as  he 
at  that  time  had  determined  them  from  the  best 
analytical  experiments  that  had  been  made  : 

WriebtoTstsiB. 


I 


Hydrogen 

Weight  or  KKim. 

Strontian 

Azote    . 

'.     5 

Barytea 

Carbon 

.    r> 

Iron     . 

Oxygen 

.     7 

Zinc     .      . 

Phosphoru 

.     9 

Copper 

Sulphur 

.  13 

Lead    . 

Magnesia 

.  20 

Silver . 

Lime     . 

.  23 

Platinum 

Soda     . 

.  28 

Gold   . 

Potash  . 

.  42 

Mercury 

167 

He  had  made  choice  of  hydrogen  for  unity,  be- 
cause  it  is  the  lightest  of  all  bodies.  He  was  of 
opinion  that  the  atomic  weights  of  all  other  bodies 
we  multiples  of  hydrogen;  and,  accordingly,  they 
are  all  expressed  in  whole  numbers.  He  had  ndsed 
tlie  atomic  weight  of  oxygen  from  6'5  to  7,  from  a 
more  careful  examination  of  the  experiments  on  the 
OHnponent  parts  of  water,  Davy,  from  a  more  ac- 
curate set  of  experiments,  soon  after  raised  the 
aumber  for  oxygen  to  1-5  :  and  Dr.  Prout,  from  a 
•ttU  more  careful  investigation  of  the  relative  specific 


gravities  of  oxygen  and  hydrogen,  showed  that  if 
the  atom  of  hydrogen  be  I,  tha.t  of  oxygen  must 
be  8.  Every  thing  conspires  to  prove  that  this  is 
the  true  ratio  between  the  atomic  weights  of  oxygen 
and  hydrogen. 

In  IBIO  appeared  the  second  volume  of  Mr.  Dal- 
ton's  New  System  of  Chemical  Philosophy.  In 
it  he  esamines  the  elementary  principles,  or  simple 
bodies,  namely,  oxygen,  hydrogen,  azote,  carbon, 
sulphur,  phosphorus,  and  the  metals ;  and  the  com- 
pounds consisting  of  two  elements,  namely,  the 
compounds  of  oxygen  with  hydrogen,  azote,  carbon, 
sulphur,  phosphorus  ;  of  hydrogen  with  azote,  car- 
bon, sulphur,  phosphorus.  Finally  he  treats  of  the 
fixed  alkalies  and  earths.  All  these  combinations 
are  treated  of  with  infinite  sagacity;  and  he  endea- 
vours to  determine  the  atomic  weights  of  the  dif- 
ferent elementary  substances.  Nothing  can  exceed 
the  ingenuity  of  his  reasoning.  But  unfortunately 
at  that  time  very  few  accurate  chemical  analyses 
existed;  and  in  chemistry  no  reasoning,  however 
ingenious,  can  compensate  for  this  indispensable 
datum.  Accordingly  his  table  of  atomic  weights  at 
the  end  this  second  volume,  though  much  more  com- 
plete than  that  at  the  end  of  the  first  volume,  is  still 
exceedingly  defective  ;  indeed  no  one  number  caa 
be  considered  as  perfectly  correct. 

The  third  volume  of  the  New  System  of  Chemical 
Philosophy  was  only  published  in  1827;  but  tho 
greatest  part  of  it  had  been  printed  nearly  ten  year* 
before.  It  treats  of  the  metallic  oxides,  the  sul- 
phurets,  phosphurets,  carburets,  and  alloys.  Doubt- 
less many  of  the  facts  contained  in  it  were  new  when 
the  sheets  were  put  to  the  press ;  but  during  the' 
interval  between  the  printing  and  publication,  almosf 
the  whole  of  them  had  not  merely  been  anticipated, 
but  the  subject  carried  much  further.     By  far  the 


OF  THE  ATOMIC  THEORY.  297 

most  important  part  of  the  volume  is  the  Appendix, 
consisting  of  about  ninety  pages,  in  which  he  dis- 
cusses, with  his  usual  sagacity,  various  important 
points  connected  with  heat  and  vapour.  In  page 
352  he  gives  a  new  table  of  the  atomic  weights  of 
bodies,  much  more  copious  than  those  contained  in 
the  two  preceding  volumes ;  and  into  which  he  has 
introduced  the  corrections  necessary  from  the  nu- 
merous correct  analyses  which  had  been  made  in  the 
interval.  He  still  adheres  to  the  ratio  1 : 7  as  the 
correct  difference  between  the  weights  of  the  at^ms 
of  hydrogen  and  oxygen.  This  shows  very  clearly 
that  he  has  not  attended  to  the  new  facts  which  have 
been  brought  forward  on  the  subject.  No  person 
who  has  attended  to  the  experiments  made  on  the 
specific  gravity  of  these  two  gases  during  the  last 
twelve  years,  could  admit  that  these  specific  gravities 
are  to  each  other  as  1  to  14.  If  1  to  16  be  not  the 
exact  ratio,  it  will  surely  be  admitted  on  all  hands 
that  it  is  infinitely  near  it. 

Mr.  Dalton  represented  the  weight  of  an  atom  of 
hydrogen  by  1,  because  it  is  the  lightest  of  bodies* 
In  this  he  has  been  followed  by  the  chemists  of  the 
Royal  Institution,  by  Mr.  Philips,  Dr.  Henry,  and 
Dr.  Turner,  and  perhaps  some  others  whose  names 
I  do  not  at  present  recollect.  Dr.  Wollaston,  in  his 
paper  on  Chemical  Equivalents,  represented  the 
atomic  weight  of  oxygen  by  1,  because  it  enters  into 
a  greater  number  of  combinations  than  any  other 
substance ;  and  this  plan  has  been  adopted  by  Ber- 
zelius,  by  myself,  and  by  the  greater  number,  if  not 
the  whole,  of  the  chemists  on  the  continent.  Per- 
haps the  advantage  which  Dr.  Wollaston  assigned 
for  making  the  atom  of  oxygen  unity  will  ultimately 
disappear :  for  there  is  no  reason  for  believing  that 
the  other  supporters  of  combustion  are  not  capable 
of  entering  into  as  many  compounds  as  oxygen.  But, 


298  HISTORY  OF  chemis 

from  the  constitution  of  the  atmosphere,  it  is  cb~ 
vious  thai  the  compounds  into  which  oxygen  enters 
will  always  be  of  more  importance  to  us  than  any 
others ;  and  in  this  point  of  view  it  may  be  attended 
with  considerable  convenience  to  have  oxygen  re- 
presented by  1.  In  the  present  state  of  the  atomic 
theory  there  is  another  reason  for  making  the  atom 
of  oxy^n  unity,  which  I  think  of  considerable  im- 
portance. Chemists  are  not  yet  agreed  about  the 
atom  of  hydrogen.  Some  consider  water  a  com- 
pound of  1  atom  of  oxygen  and  2  atoms  of  hydro- 
gen; others,  of  1  atom  of  osygen  and  1  atom  of 
hydrogen.  According  to  the  first  view,  the  atom  of 
hydrogen  is  only  l-16th  of  the  weightof  an  atom  of 
csygen  ;  according  to  the  second,  it  is  l-3th.  If, 
therefore,  we  were  to  represent  the  atom  of  hydrogen 
by  1,  the  consetiuence  would  be,  that  two  tables  of 
atomic  weights  would  be  requisite — all  the  atoms  in 
one  being  double  the  weight  of  the  atoms  in  the 
other ;  whereas,  if  we  make  the  atom  of  oxygen 
unity,  it  will  be  the  atom  of  hydrogen  only  that  will 
differ  in  the  two  tables.  In  the  one  table  it  will  be 
0'125,  in  the  other  it  will  be  0-0625;  or,  reckoning 
with  Berzelius  the  atom  of  oxygen  =  100,  we  have 
that  of  hydrogen  =  12-5  or  6-25,  accordingas  weview 
water  to  be  a  compound  of  1  atom  of  oxygen  with 
I  or  2  atoms  of  hydrogen. 

In  the  year  1809  Gay-Lussac  published  in  the 
second  volume  of  the  Memoires  d' Arcueil  a  paper  on 
the  union  of  the  gaseous  substances  with  each  other. 
In  this  paper  he  shows  that  the  proportions  in  which 
the  gases  unite  with  each  other  are  of  the  simplest 
kind.  One  volume  of  one  gas  either  combining 
with  one  volume  of  another,  or  with  two  volumes,  or 
with  half  a  volume.  The  atomic  theory  of  Dalton 
had  been  opposed  with  considerable  keenness  by 
Berthollet  in  his  Introduction  to  the  French  transla- 


LI 


I 


tion  of  my  System  of  Chemistry.  Nor  was  this  op- 
poaition  to  be  wondered  at ;  because  its  admission 
would  of  course  overturn  all  the  opinions  which 
Berthollet  had  laboured  to  establish  in  liis  Chemical 
Statics.  The  object  of  Gay-Lussac'a  paper  waa  to 
conGnn  and  establish  the  new  atomic  theory,  by  ex- 
hibiting it  in  a  new  point  of  view.  Nothing  can  be 
more  ingenious  than  his  mode  of  treating  the  sub- 
ject, or  more  complete  than  the  proofs  which  he 
brings  forward  in  support  of  it.  It  had  been  already 
established  that  water  is  formed  by  the  union  of  one 
volume  of  oxygen  and  two  volumes  of  hydrogen 
gas.  Gay-Lus5ac  found  by  experiment,  that  one 
wlume  of  muriatic  acid  gas  is  just  saturated  by  one 
volume  of  ammoniacal  gas:  the  product  js  sal 
ammoniac.  Fluoboric  acid  gas  unites  in  two  pro- 
portions with  ammoniacal  gas :  the  first  compound 
consists  of  one  volume  of  fluoboric  gas,  and  one 
volume  of  ammoniacal;  the  second,  of  one  volume  of 
&e  acid  gas,  and  two  volumes  of  the  alkaline.  The 
first  forms  a  neutral  salt,  the  second  an  allcaline 
■alt.  He  showed  likewise,  that  carbonic  acid  and 
ammoniacal  gas  could  combine  also  in  two  propor- 
tions ;  namely,  one  volume  of  the  acid  gas  with  one 
or  two  volumes  of  the  alkaline  gas. 

M.  Amedee  Berthollet  had  proved  that  ammonia 
U  a  compound  of  one  volume  of  azotic,  and  three 
volumes  of  hydrogen  gas.  Gay-Lussac  himself  had 
shown  that  sulphuric  acid  is  composed  of  one  volnme 
sulphurous  acid  gas,  and  a  half-volume  of  oxygen  gas. 
He  showed  further,  that  the  compounds  of  azoteand 
oxygen  were  composed  as  follows : 


Protoxide  of  azote  I  volume  +  i  volume 
Deutoxide  of  azote  1        „       +1 

Nitrous  acid      .1       „       +2 


He  showeil  also,  that  when  the  two  ^es  after 
combining  remained  in  the  gaseous  state,  the  di- 
minution of  volume  was  either  0,  or  ^,  or  ^. 

The  constancy  of  these  proportions  left  no  doubt 
that  the  combinations  of  all  gaseous  bodies  were 
definite.  The  theory  of  Dalton  applied  to  them 
with  great  facility.  We  have  only  to  consider  a 
volume  of  gas  to  represent  an  atom,  and  then  we  see 
that  in  gases  one  atom  of  one  g;as  combines  either 
with  one,  two,  or  three  atoms  of  another  gas,  and 
never  with  more.  There  is,  indeed,  a  difficulty  oc- 
casioned by  the  way  in  which  we  view  the  com- 
position of  water.  If  water  be  composed  of  one 
atom  of  oxyg;en  and  one  atom  of  hydrogen,  then  it 
follows  that  a  volume  of  oxygen  contains  twice  as 
many  atoms  as  a  volume  of  hydrogen.  Conse- 
quently, if  a  volume  of  hydrogen  gas  represent  an 
atom,  naif  a  volume  of  oxygen  gas  must  represent 
an  atom. 

Dr.  Front  soon  after  showed  that  there  is  an 
intimate  connexion  between  the  atomic  weight  of  a 
gaa  and  its  specific  gravity.  This  indeed  is  obviona 
at  once.  I  afterwards  showed  that  the  specific 
gravity  of  a  gas  is  either  equal  to  its  atomic  weight 
multiplied  by  1  ■  II 1 1  (the  specific  gravity  of  oxygen 
gas),  or  by  0-555&  (half  tlie  specific  g^vity  of  oxy- 
gen gas),  or  by  0-277t  (l-4th  of  the  specific  gravity 
of  oxygen  gas),  these  differences  depending  upon  the 
relative  condensation  which  the  gases  undergo  when 
their  elements  unite.  The  following  table  exhibita 
the  atoms  and  specific  gravity  of  these  three  seta  of 
gases: 

I.     Sp.Gr.  =  Atomic  Weight  X  Mill 

AMmic  wrigtit.  Ep.  cmvltr. 

Oxygen  gas         1         .         .         .     1 '  1 1 1 1 
Pluosilicic  acid   3-25    .         .         .     3-6111 


OF  THE  ATOMIC  THEOET. 


301 


II.     Sp.  Gr.  =  Atomic  Weight  X  0-5555. 


Atomic  weight. 

Sp.  gniTitf . 

Hydrogen 

0-125 

.       .     00694 

Azotic      . 

1-75 

.       .     0-072i 

Chlorine . 

4-5 

.       .     2-5 

Carbon  vapour 

0-75 

.       .     0-4166 

Phosphorus  vapour 

2 

.       .     1-1111 

Sulphur  vapour  - 

2 

.     1-1111 

Tellurium  vapour      • 

4 

.       .     2-222i 

Arsenic  vapour 

4  75 

.       .     2-6386 

Selenium  vapour 

5 

.       .     2-777t 

Bromine  vapour 

10 

.       .     5'555& 

Iodine  vapour 

15-75 

.       .     8-75 

Steam     . 

1-125 

.       .    0-625 

Carbonic  oxide  gas  . 

1-75 

•     0-9724 

Carbonic  acid  . 

2-75 

.     l-527t 

Protoxide  of  azote   . 

2-75 

.       .     l-527t 

Nitric  acid  vapour    . 

6-75 

.       .     3-75 

Sulphurous  acid 

4 

.       .     2.2224 

Sulphuric  acid  vapour 

5 

.     2-777t 

Cyanogen 
Fluoboric  acid 

3-25 

.       .     1-805& 

4-25 

.     2-3611 

Bisulphuret  of  carbon 

4-75 

.     2-6386 

Chloro-carbonic  acid 

6-25 

.       .     3-4724 

III.     Sp.  Gr.=Atomic  Weight  x 0'277t. 


Ammoniacal  gas 
Hydrocyanic  acid 
Deutoxide  of  azote 
Muriatic  acid 
Hydrobromic  acid 
Hydriodic  acid 


Atomic  weight. 

Sp.  giftTitj. 

2-125       . 

.     0-5902t 

3-375       . 

•     0-9375 

3-75 

*     1-0416 

4-625       . 

.     1-28474 

10-125     . 

.     2*8125 

15-875     . 

.    4-40973 

302  nisTORY  OF 

When  Professor  Berzeliiis,  of  Stockholm,  thought 
of  writing  his  Elementary  Tteatise  on  Chemistry,  the 
first  volume  of  which  was  published  in  the  year 
1806,  he  prepared  himself  for  the  task  by  reading 
several  chemical  wurks  which  do  not  commonly  fall 
under  the  eye  of  those  who  compose  elementary 
treatises.  Among  other  books  he  read  the  Stocbio- 
metry  of  Richter,  and  was  much  struck  with  the  ex- 
planations there  given  of  the  composition  of  salte, 
and  the  precipitation  of  metals  by  each  other.  It 
followed  from  the  researches  of  Richter,  that  if  we 
were  in  possession  of  good  analyses  of  certain  salts, 
we  might  by  means  of  them  calculate  with  accuracy 
the  composition  of  all  the  rest.  Berzelius  formed 
immediately  tlie  project  of  analyzings  series  of  salts 
with  the  most  minute  attention  to  accuracy.  While 
employed  in  putting  this  project  in  execution,  Davy 
discovered  the  constituents  of  the  alkalies  and  earths, 
Mr.  Dalton  gave  to  the  world  his  notions  respect- 
ing the  atomic  theory,  and  Gay-Lussac  made  known 
his  theory  of  volumes-  This  greatly  enlarged  his 
views  as  he  proceeded,  and  induced  him  to  embrace 
a  much  wider  field  than  he  had  originally  contem- 
plated. His  first  analyses  were  unsatisfactory  ;  but 
by  repeating  them  and  varying  the  methods,  he  de- 
tected errors,  improved  his  processes,  and  finally  ob- 
tained results,  which  agreed  exceedingly  well  with 
the  theoretical  calculations.  These  laborious  in- 
vestigations occupied  him  several  years.  The  first 
outline  of  his  experiments  appeared  in  the  77th 
volume  of  the  Annates  de  Chimie,  in  1811,  in  a 
letter  addressed  by  Berzelius  to  Bertholiet.  In  this 
letter  he  gives  an  account  of  his  methods  of  analyses 
together  with  the  composition  of  forty-seven  com- 
pound bodies.  He  shows  tliat  when  a  metallic 
prates ulphuret  is  converted  into  a  sulphate,  the 
sniphate  is  neutral ;  that  an  atom  of  sulphur  is  twice 


OF  THE   ATOMIC  THEOST.  303 

as  heavy  as  an  atom  of  oxygen  ;  and  that  when  sul- 
phite of  barytas  is  converted  into  sulphate,  the  sul- 
phate is  neutral,  there  being  no  excess  either  of  acid 
or  base.  From  these  and  many  other  important  factf 
be  finally  draws  this  conclusion  :  "  In  a  compound 
formed  by  the  union  of  two  oxides,  the  one  which 
(when  decomposed  by  the  galvanic  battery)  attaches 
Itself  to  the  positive  pole  (the  acid  for  example)  con- 
tains two,  three,  four,  five,  &c.,  times  as  much 
tnygien,  as  the  one  which  attaches  itself  to  the 
negative  pole  (the  alkali,  earth,  or  metallic  oxide)." 
Benielius's  essay  itself  appeared  in  the  third  volume 
of  the  Afhandlingar,  in  1810.  It  was  ahnost  im- 
mediately translated  into  German,  and  published 
by  Gilbert  in  his  Annalen  der  Physik.  But  no 
£ngUsh  translation  has  evei  appeared,  the  editors 
of  our  periodical  works  being  io  general  unacquaint- 
ed with  the  German  and  other  northern  languages 
In  1815  Berielius  applied  the  atomic  theory  to  the 
mineral  kingdom,  and  showed  with  infinite  inge* 
unity  that  minerals  are  chemical  compounds  in  de- 
finite or  atomic  proportions,  and  by  far  the  greater 
nnmber  of  them  combinations  of  acids  and  bases. 
He  applied  the  theory  also  to  the  vegetable  kingdom 
by  analyzing  several  of  the  vegetable  acids,  and 
wowing  their  atomic  constitution.  But  here  a 
difficulty  occurs,  which  in  the  present  state  of  our 
knowledge,  we  are  unable  to  surmount-  There  are 
two  acids,  the  acetic  and  succinic,  that  are  composed 
of  exactly  the  same  number,  and  same  kind  of  atoms, 
and  whose  atomic  weight  is  6-25.  The  constituents 
of  these  two  acids  are 

2  atoms  hydrogen  0-25 
4     ,,      carbon      3 


"JftSTOHY    OF  CIIEMISTRTJ 

So  that  tliey  consist  of  nine  atoms.  Now  as  these 
two  acids  are  composed  of  the  same  number  and 
e  kind  of  atoms,  one  would  expect  that  their 
properties  should  be  the  same ;  but  this  is  not 
''  acetic  acid  has  a  strong  and   aromatic 

c  acid  has  no  smell  whatever.  Acetic 
I  soluble  in  water  that  it  is  difficult  to 
in  crystals,  and  it  cannot  be  procured 
in  a  separate  state  free  from  water ;  for  the  crys- 
tals of  acetic  acid  are  composed  of  one  atom  of 
acid  and  one  atom  of  water  united  together ;  but 
succinic  acid  is  not  only  easily  obtained  free  from 
',  but  it  is  not  even  very  soluble  in  that  liquid. 
The  nature  of  the  salts  formed  by  these  two  acids 
is  quite  different;  the  action  of  heat  upon  each 
is  quite  different;  the  specific  gravity  of  each  differs. 
In  short  all  their  properties  exhibit  a  striking  con- 
trast. Now  how  are  we  to  account  for  this  ?  Un- 
doubtedly by  the  different  ways  in  which  the  atoms 
are  arranged  in  each.  If  the  electro- chemical  the- 
ory of  combination  be  correct,  we  can  only  view 
atoms  as  combining  two  by  two.  A  substance  then, 
containing  nine  atoms,  such  as  acetic  acid,  must 
be  of  a  very  complex  nature.  And  it  is  obvious 
enough  that  these  nine  atoms  might  arrange  them- 
selves in  a  great  variety  of  binary  compounds,  and 
the  way  in  which  these  binary  compounds  unite  may, 
and  doubtless  does,  produce  a  considerable  effect 
upon  the  nature  of  the  compound  formed.  Thus,  if 
we  make  use  of  Mr.  Dalton's  symbols  to  represent 
the  atoms  of  hydri^n,  carbon  and  oxygen,  we  may 
suppose  the  nine  atoms  constituting  acetic  and  suc- 
cinic acid  to  be  arranged  thus : 

©•0 

ooo 

••• 


OF  THB  ATOMIC   THEORTh  305 

Or  thus: 

ooo 

Now,  undoubtedly  these  two  arrangements  would 
produce  a  great  change  in  the  nature  of  the  com* 
pound. 

There  is  something  in  the  vegetable  acids  quite 
different  from  the  acids  of  the  inorganic  kingdom, 
and  which  would  lead  to  the  suspicion  that  the 
electro-chemical  theory  will  not  apply  to  them  as 
it  does  to  the  others.  In  the  acids  of  carbon,  sul- 
phur, phosphorus,  selenium,  &c.,  we  find  one  atom 
of  a  positive  substance  united  to  one,  two,  or  three 
of  a  negative  substance:  we  are  not  surprised, 
therefore,  to  find  the  acid  formed  negative  also. 
But  in  acetic  and  succinic  acids  we  find  every  atom 
of  oxygen  united  with  two  electro-positive  atoms : 
the  wonder  then  is,  that  the  acid  should  not  only 
retain  its  electro-negative  properties,  but  that  it 
should  possess  considerable  power  as  an  acid.  In 
benzoic  acid,  for  every  atom  of  oxygen,  there  are 
present  no  fewer  than  seven  electro  -  positive 
atoms. 

Berzelius  has  returned  to  these  analytical  experi- 
ments repeatedly,  so  that  at  last  he  has  brought 
his  results  very  near  the  truth  indeed.  It  is  to  his 
labours  chiefly  that  the  great  progress  which  the 
atomic  theory  has  made  is  owing. 

In  the  year  1814  there  appeared  in  the  Philo- 
sophical Transactions  a  description  of  a  Synoptical 
Scale  of  Chemical  Equivalents,  by  Dr.  WoUaston. 
In  this  paper  we  have  the  equivalents  or  atomic 
weights  o£  seventy-three  different  bodies,  deduced 
chiefly  from  a  sagacious  comparison  of  the  previous 
analytical  experiments  of  others,  and  almost  all  of 

VOL.    II.  X 


I 


306  HISTORY  or  CtlEMISTKT.  ■ 

tbem  very  sear  the  truth.  These  numbers  are  laid 
down  upon  a  sliding  rule,  by  means  of  a  table  of 
logarithms,  and  over  against  them  the  oames  of  the 
subfitaaces.  By  means  of  this  rule  a  great  many 
important  questions  respecting  the  substances  con- 
tained on  the  scale  may  be  soWed.  Hence  the 
scale  is  of  great  advantage  to  the  practical  chemist. 
It  gives,  by  bare  inspection,  the  constituents  of  all 
Che  Baits  contained  on  it,  the  quantity  of  any  other 
ingredient  necessary  to  decompose  any  salt,  and 
the  weights  of  the  new  constituents  that  nil!  be 
formed.  The  contrivance  of  this  scale,  therefore, 
may  be  considered  as  an  important  addition  to  the 
atomic  theory.  It  rendered  that  theory  every  where 
familiar  to  all  those  who  employed  it.  To  it  chiefly 
we  owe.  I  believe,  the  currency  of  that  theory  tn 
Great  Britain ;  and  the  prevalence  of  the  tnode 
which  Dr.  Wollaston  introduced,  namely,  of  repre- 
senting the  atom  of  oxygen  by  unity,  or  at  least  by 
ten,  which  comes  nearly  to  the  same  thing. 

Perhaps  the  reader  will  excuse  me  if  to  the  prece- 
dinjr  historical  details  1  add  a  few  words  to  make  him. 
ucquainted  with  my  own  attempts  to  render  the 
atomic  theory  more  accurate  by  new  and  careful 
analyses.  I  shall  not  say  any  thing  respecting'  the 
experiments  which  I  undertook  to  determine  the 
specific  gravity  of  the  gases ;  though  they  were 
performed  with  much  care,  and  at  a  considerable 
expense,  and  though  1  believe  the  results  obtained 
approached  accuracy  as  nearly  as  the  present  state 
of  chemical  apparatus  enables  us  to  go.  In  the 
year  1819  1  began  a  set  of  experiments  to  deter- 
mine the  exact  composition  of  the  salts  containing 
the  different  elementary  bodies  by  means  of  double 
decomposition,  as  was  done  by  Wenzel,  conceiving 
that  in  that  way  the  results  would  be  very  near  the 
truth,  while  the  experiments  would  be  more  easily 


OF  THE  ATOMIC  THEORY.  307 

made.  My  mode  was  to  dissolve,  for  example,  a 
certain  weight  of  muriate  of  barytes  in  distilled 
water,  and  then  to  ascertain  by  repeated  trials  what 
weight  of  sulphate  of  soda  must  be  added  to  precipi- 
tate the  whole  of  the  barytes  without  leaving  any 
surplus  of  sulphuric  acid  m  the  liquid.  To  deter- 
mine this  I  put  into  a  watch-glass  a  few  drops  of  the 
filtered  liquor  consisting  of  the  mixture  of  solutions 
of  the  two  salts  :  to  this  I  added  a  drop  of  solution 
of  sulphate  of  soda.  If  the  liquid  remained  clear  it 
was  a  proof  that  it  contained  no  sensible  quantity  of 
barytes.  To  another  portion  of  the  liquid,  also  in 
a  watch-glass,  I  added  a  drop  of  muriate  of  barytes. 
If  there  was  no  precipitate  it  was  a  proof  that  the 
liquid  contained  no  sensible  quantity  of  sulphuric 
acid.  If  there  was  a  precipitate,  on  the  addition  of 
either  of  these  solutions,  it  showed  that  there  was 
an  excess  of  one  or  other  of  the  salts.  I  then  mixed 
the  two  salts  in  another  proportion,  and  proceeded 
in  this  way  till  I  had  found  two  quantities  which 
when  mixed  exhibited  no  evidence  of  the  residual 
liquid  containing  any  sulphuric  acid  or  barytes.  I 
considered  these  two  weights  of  the  salts  as  the  equi- 
valent weights  of  the  salt,  or  as  weights  proportional 
to  an  integrant  particle  of  each  salt.  I  made  no 
attempt  to  collect  the  two  new  formed  salts  and  to 
weigh  them  separately. 

I  published  the  result  of  my  numerous  experi- 
ments in  1825,  in  a. work  entitled  **  An  Attempt  to 
establish  the  First  Principles  of  Chemistry  by  Ex- 
periment." The  most  valuable  part  of  this  book  is 
the  account  of  the  salts ;  about  three  hundred  of 
which  I  subjected  to  actual  analysis.  Of  these  the 
worst  executed  are  the  phosphates ;  for  with  respect 
to  them  I  was  sometimes  misled  by  my  method  of 
double  decomposition.    I  was  not  aware  at  firsts  that, 

x2 


308  HISTORY   OF   CHEMISTRY. 

in  certain  cases,  the  proportion  of  acid  in  these  salts 
Taries,  and  the  phosphate  of  soda  which  I  employed 
gave  me  a  wrong  number  for  the  atomic  weight  of 
phosphoric  acid. 


OF  THE   PRE8E27T  STATE  OF  CHXMISTRT.     309 


CHAPTER  VII. 


or  THE   PRESEMT   STATE    OF  CHEMISTRY. 

To  finish  this  history  it  will  be  now  proper  to  lay 
before  the  reader  a  kind  of  map  of  the  present  state 
of  chemistry,  that  he  may  be  able  to  judge  how 
much  of  the  science  has  been  already  explored,  and 
how  much  still  remains  untrodden  ground. 

Leaving  out  of  view  light,  heat,  and  electricity, 
respecting  the  nature  of  which  only  conjectures  can 
be  formed,  we  are  at  present  acquainted  with  fifty- 
three  simple  bodies,  which  naturally  divide  them- 
selves into  three  classes  ;  namely,  supporters,  acidi^ 
Jiable  bases,  and  alkalifiable  hoses. 

The  supporters  are  oxygen,  chlorine,  bromine, 
iodine,  and  fluorine.  They  are  all  in  a  state  of  ne- 
gative electricity  :  for  when  compounds  containing 
them  are  decomposed  by  the  voltaic  battery  they  all 
attach  themselves  to  the  positive  pole.  They  have 
the  property  of  uniting  with  every  individual  belong- 
ing to  the  other  two  classes.  When  they  combine 
with  the  acidifiable  bases  in  certain  proportions  they 
constitute  acids;  when  with  the  alkalifiable  bases, 
alkalies.  In  certain  proportions  they  constitute 
neutral  bodies,  which  possess  neither  the  properties 
of  acids  nor  alkalies. 

The  acidifiable  bases  are  seventeen  in  number ; 
namely,  hydrogen,  azote,  carbon,  boron,  silicon,  sul- 


I 


310  HISTORY  OF  CIIEMISTBV.  ^■^ 

phur,  selenium,  tellurium,  phosphorus,  arsenic,  anti- 
mony, chromium ,  uranium,  molybdenum,  tungsten ,  ti- 
tanium, coiumbium.  These  bodies  do  not  form  acids 
with  every  supporter,  or  in  every  proportion ;  but 
they  constitute  the  bases  of  all  the  known  acids, 
which  form  a  numerous  set  of  bodies,  many  of 
which  are  still  very  imperfectly  investigated.  And 
indeed  there  are  a  good  many  of  them  that  may  be 
considered  as  unknown.  These  aciditiablebases  are  all 
electro- positive ;  but  they  differ,  in  this  respect,  con- 
siderably from  each  other ;  hydrogen  and  carbon 
being  two  of  the  most  powerful,  while  titanium  and 
coiumbium  have  the  least  energy.  Sulphur  and  se- 
lenium, and  probably  some  other  bodies  belonging  to 
this  cigss  are  occasional  electro-negative  bodies,  as 
well  as  the  supporters.  Hence,  when  united  to  other 
acidiiiable  bases,  they  produce  a  new  class  of  acids, 
analogous  to  those  formed  by  the  supporters.  These 
have  got  the  name  of  sulphur  acids,  selenium  acids, 
&c.  Sulphur  forms  acids  with  arsenic,  antimony, 
molybdenum,  and  tungsten,  and  doubtless  with 
several  other  bases.  To  distinguish  such  acids  from 
alkaline  bases,  1  have  of  late  made  an  alteration  in 
the  termination  of  the  old  word  sulpkuref,  employed 
to  denote  the  combination  of  sulphur  with  a  base. 
Thus  sulphide  of  arsenic  means  an  acid  formed  by 
the  union  of  sulphur  and  arsenic  ;  sulphwet  of  cop- 
per means  an  alkaline  body  formed  by  the  union  of 
sulphur  and  copper.  The  term  sulphide  implies  an 
acid,  the  term  sulphuret  a  base.  This  mode  of 
naming  has  become  necessary,  as  without  it  many 
of  these  new  salts  could  not  be  described  in  an  in- 
telligible manner.  The  same  mode  will  apply  to 
the  acid  and  alkaline  compounds  of  silenium.  Thus 
a  ielenide  is  an  acid  compuimd,  and  a  seleniet  an 
alkaline  compound  in  which  selenium  acts  the  part 
of  a  supporter  or  electro- negative  body.     The  same 


OF  THE. PRESENT  STATE  OF   CHEMISTRY.    311 

mode  of  naming  might  and  doubtless  will  be  ex- 
tended to  all  the  other  similar  compounds,  as  soon 
as  it  becomes  necessary.  In  order  to  form  a  sys- 
tematic momenclature  it  will  speedily  be  requisite  to 
new-model  all  the  old  names  which  denote  acids  and 
bases ;  because  unless  this  is  done  the  names  will 
become  too  numerous  to  be  remembered.  At  present 
we  denote  the  alkaline  bodies  formed  by  the  union 
of  manganese  and  oxygen  by  the  name  of  oxides  of 
manganese,  and  the  acid  compound  of  oxygen  and 
the  same  metal  by  the  name  of  manganesic  acid. 
The  word  ojvide  applies  to  every  compound  of  abase 
and  oxygen,  whether  neutral  or  alkaline ;  but  when 
the  compound  has  acid  qualities  this  is  denoted 
by  adding  thesyllabletc  to  the  name  of  the  base.  This 
mode  of  naming  answered  tolerably  well  as  long  as 
the  acids  and  alkalies  were  all  combinations  of  ox- 
ygen with  a  base ;  but  now  that  we  know  the  ex- 
istence of  eight  or  ten  classes  of  acids  and  alkalies, 
consisting  of  as  many  supporters,  or  acidifiable  bases 
united  to  bases,  it  is  needless  to  remark  how  very 
defective  it  has  become.  But  this  is  not  the  place 
to  dwell  longer  upon  such  a  subject. 

The  alkalifiable  bases  ai*e  thirty-one  in  number ; 
namely,  potassium,  sodium,  lithium,  barium,  stron- 
tium, calcium,  magnesium,  aluminum,  glucinum, 
yttrium,  cerium,  zirconium,  thorinum,  iron,  man- 
ganese, nickel,  cobalt,  zinc,  cadmium,  lead,  tin, 
bismuth,  copper,  mercury,  silver,  gold,  platinum, 
palladium,  rhodium,  iridium,  osmium.  The  com- 
pounds which  these  bodies  form  with  oxygen,  and 
the  other  supporters,  constitute  all  the  alkaline 
bases  or  the  substances  capable  of  neutralizing  the 
acids. 

Some  of  the  acidifiable  bases,  when  united  to  a 
certain  portion  of  oxygen,  constitute,  not  acids,  but 
bases  or  alkalies.    Thus  the  green  oxides  of  chrO' 


r 


a.\  or  cHEiii»r»T. " 

are  alkalies;  wliile,  on  the  other 
hand,  there  is  a  compouad  ot'  oxyg;ea  and  manga' 
which  possesses  acid  properties.  In  such  cases 
it  is  always  the  compound  containing  the  least  oxy~ 
gen  which  is  an  alkali,  and  that  containing;  the  most 
oxygen  that  is  an  acid. 

The  opinion  at  present  universally  adopted  by 
chemists  is,  that  tbe  ultimate  particles  of  bodies 
consist  of  atoms,  incapable  of  further  division ;  and 
these  atoms  are  of  a  size  almost  inhuitely  small.  It 
can  be  demonstrated  that  the  size  of  an  atom  of  lead 
does  not  amount  to  so  much  as  hw,-.wjim,wq,™  "f  a 
cubic  inch. 

But,  notwithstanding  this  extreme  minuteness, 
each  of  these  atoms  possesses  a  peculiar  weight  and 
a  pecuhar  bulk,  which  distinguish  it  from  the  atoms 
of  every  other  body.  We  cannot  determine  the 
absolute  weight  of  any  of  them,  but  merely  the 
relative  weights ;  and  this  is  done  by  ascertaining 
the  relative  proportions  in  which  they  unite.  When 
two  bodies  unite  in  only  one  proportion,  it  is  reason- 
able  to  conclude  that  the  compound  consists  of  1 
atom  of  the  one  body,  united  to  1  atom  of  the  other. 
Thus  oxide  of  bismuth  is  a  compound  of  1  oxygen 
and  9  bismuth ;  and,  as  the  bodies  unite  in  no  other 
proportion,  we  conclude  that  an  atom  of  bismuth  is 
nine  times  as  heavy  as  an  atom  of  oxygen.  It  Is  in 
this  way  that  the  atomic  weights  of  the  simple  bodies 
have  been  attempted  to  be  determined.  The  folbw- 
ing  table  exhibits  these  weights  referred  to  oxygen 
as  unity,  and  deduced  from  the  best  data  at  present 
in  our  possession : 


Oxygen . 

.     1 

Calcium  .     . 

2-5 

Fluorine 

2-25 

Magnesium  . 

1-5 

Chlorine 

.     4-5 

1-25 

Bromine 

.  10 

Glncinum     . 

2-25 

OF    THE  TEE8EXT  STATE  OV  CHSMISTRY.     313 


Iodine 
Hydrogen  . 
Azote    .     . 
Carbon .     . 
Boron    .     . 
Silicon  .     . 
Phosphorus 
Sulphur 
Selenium    . 
Tellurium  . 
Arsenic .     . 
Antimony  . 
Chromium . 
Uranium     . 
Molybdenum  6 
Tungsten    .  12*5 
Titanium    .     3-25 
Columbium  22'75 
Potassium  .     5 
Sodium .     .     3 
Lithium      .     0-75 
Barium .     •     8*5 
Strontium  .     5'5 


Atomic  "weight. 

.  15-75 
.     0-125 
.     1-75 
.     0-75 
.     1 
.     1 

2 

2 

5 

4 

4-75 

8 

4 
26 


Yttrium  • 

Zirconium 

Thorindm 

Iron   .     . 

Manganese 

Nickel 

Cobalt 

Cerium 

Zinc   ., 

Cadmium 

Lead  . 

Tin     . 

Bismuth 

Copper 

Mercury 

Silver, 

Gold. 

Platinum 

Palladium 

Rhodium 

Iridium   . 

Osmium. 


Atomic  weight. 

.     4-25 
.     5 

.     7-5 
.     3-5 
.     3-5 
.     3-25 
.     3-25 
.     6-25 
.    4-25 
.     7 
.  13 
.     7-25 
.     9 
.     4 
.  12-5 
.  13-75 
.  12-5 
.  12 
.     6-75 
.     6-75 
.  12-25 
.  12-5 


The  atomic  weights  of  these  bodies,  divided  by 
their  specific  gravity,  ought  to  give  us  the  compa- 
rative size  of  the  atoms.  The  following  table,  con- 
structed in  this  way,  exhibits  the  relative  bulks  of 
these  atoms  which  belong  to  bodies  whose  specific 
gravity  is  known : 


Carbon      .     . 
Nickel  > 
Cobalt  )    •    • 
Manganese  1 
Copper        i , 


Volume. 
1 

1-75 


Platinum   > 
Palladium  3 
Zinc     .     .     • 
Rhodimn    1 
Tellurium   >  . 
Chromium  ) 


Volame. 

2-6 
2-75 


ITORV   OF   CHEMISTItT.*" 


Gold 


Osmium  } 
Oxygen     "J 
Hydrogen  ( 
Azote  I 

Chlorine    J 
Uranium   . 


Tin 

Solphu 

Selenium )  ,  ,  Potassiuia 


.     4-G6 


.     9-33 

.  13-5 

14 

.  15'75 

Lead        I 

We  have  no  data  to  enable  ua  to  detennine  the 
shape  of  these  atoms.  The  most  g'enerally  received 
opinion  is,  that  they  are  spheres  or  spheroids ;  though 
tnere  are  difiicciliies  in  the  way  of  admitting  such 
an  opinion,  in  the  present  state  of  our  knowledge, 
nearly  insurmountable. 

The  probal»lity  is,  that  all  the  supporters  have 
the  property  of  uniting  with  all  the  bases,  in  at  least 
three  proportions.  But  by  far  the  greater  number 
of  these  compounds  still  remain  unknown.  The 
greatest  progress  has  been  made  in  our  knowledge 
of  the  compounds  of  oxygen ;  but  even  there 
much  remains  to  be  investigated ;  owing,  in  a  great 
measure,  to  the  scarcity  of  several  of  the  bases  which 
prevent  chemists  from  subjecting  them  to  the  requi- 
site number  of  experiments.  The  compounds  of 
chlorine  have  also  been  a  good  deal  investigated ; 
but  bromine  and  iodine  have  been  known  for  so 
short  a  time,  that  chemists  have  not  yet  had  leisure 
to  contrive  the  requisite  processes  for  causing  them 
to  unit«  with  bases. 

Tiie  acids  at  present  known  amount  to  a  very 


OF  THE  PRESEKT  STATE  OF   CHEMISTRY.    315 

great  number.  The  oxygen  acids  have  been  most 
investigated.  They  consist  of  two  sets  :  those  con- 
sisting of  oxygen  united  to  a  single  base,  and  those 
in  which  it  is  united  to  two  or  more  bases.  The 
last  set  are  derived  from  the  animal  and  vegetable 
kingdoms  :  it  does  not  seem  likely  that  the  electro- 
chemical theory  of  Davy  applies  to  them.  They 
must  derive  their  acid  qualities  from  some  electric 
principle  not  yet  adverted  to ;  for,  from  Davy's  ex- 
periments, there  can  be  little  doubt  that  they  are 
electro-negative,  as  well  as  the  other  acids.  The 
acid  compounds  of  oxygen  and  a  single  base  are 
about  thirty-two  in  number.  Their  names  are 
Hyponitrous  acid  Selenic  acid 

Nitrous  acid  ?  Arsenious  acid 

Nitric  acid  Arsenic  acid 

Carbonic  acid  Antimonious  acid 

Oxalic  acid  Antimonic  acid 

Boracic  acid  Oxide  of  tellurium 

Silicic  acid  Chromic  acid 

Hypophosphorous  acid      Uranic  acid 
Phosphorous  acid  Molybdic  acid  • 

Phosphoric  acid  Tungstic  acid 

Hyposulphurous  acid        Titanic  acid 
Subsulphurous  acid  Columbic  acid 

Sulphurous  acid  Manganesic  acid 

Sulphuric  acid  Chloric  acid 

Hyposulphuric  acid  Bromic  acid 

Selenious  acid  Iodic  acid. 

The  acids  from  the  vegetable  and  animal  king- 
doms (not  reckoning  a  considerable  number  which 
consist  of  combinations  of  sulphuric  acid  with  a 
vegetable  or  animal  body),  amount  to  about  forty- 
three  :  so  that  at  present  we  are  acquainted  with 
very  nearly  eighty  acids  which  contain  oxygen  as 
an  essential  constituent. 
The  other  classes  of  acids  have  been  but  imper- 


316  BisroET  or  caEMMMtmY. 

lecUy  invefttigaited«  Hydri^en  enters  into 
tjon  and  fonns  powerful  acids  with  all  the  ssp» 
porteri  except  oxygen.  These  have  heen  called 
hydracids.     They  are 

Muriatic  acid,  or  hydrochknic  acid 

Hydrobromic  acid 

Hydriodic  acid 

Hydroflaoric  acid,  or  fluoric  acid 

Hydrosulphuric  acid 

llydroselenic  acid 

Hydrotelluric  acid 
These  constitute  (such  of  them  as  can  be  procured) 
some  of  the  most  useful  and  most  powerful  chemical 
reagents  in  use.     There  is  also  another  compound 
body,  cyanogen,  similar  in  its  characters  to  a  sup* 

I)ortcr :  it  also  forms  various  acids,  by  uniting  to 
lydrogen,  chlorine,  oxygen,   sulphur,  &c.     Thus 
we  have 

Hydrocyanic  acid 

Chlorocyanic  acid 

Cyanic  acid 

Sulphocyanic  acid,  &c. 
We  know,  also,  fluosilicic  acid  and  fluoboric  acids. 
If  to  these  we  add  fulminic  acid,  and  the  various 
sulphur  acids  already  investigated,  we  may  state, 
without  risk  of  any  excess,  that  the  number  of  acids 
at  present  known  to  chemists,  and  capable  of  unitin 
to  bases,  exceeds  a  hundred. 

The  number  of  alkaline  bases  is  not,  perhaps,  so 
g^eat ;  but  it  must  even  at  present  exceed  seventy ; 
and  it  will  certainly  be  much  augmented  when  che-» 
mists  turn  their  attention  to  the  subject.  Now 
every  base  is  capable  of  uniting  with  almost  every 
acid,^  in  all  probability  in  at  least  three  different 

*  Acids  and  bases  of  the  same  class  all  unite.    Thus  sul* 
phur  acids  unite  with  sulphur  bates ;  oxygen  acids  with  ojj* 


or 
O 


OF    THE   PRESEKT   STATE  OF  CHEMISTRY.     317 

proportions :  so  that  the  number  of  salts  which  they 
are  capable  of  forming  cannot  be  fewer  than  21,000. 
Now  scarcely  1000  of  these  are  at  present  known, 
or  have  been  investigated  with  tolerable  precision. 
What  a  prodigious  field  of  investigation  remains  to 
be  traversed  must  be  obvious  to  the  most  careless 
reader.  In  such  a  number  of  salts,^  how  many  re- 
main unknown  that  might  be  applied  to  useful 
purposes,  either  in  medicine,  or  as  mordants,  or 
dyes,  &c.  How  much,  in  all  probability,  will  be 
added  to  the  resources  of  mankind  by  such  inves- 
tigations need  not  be  observed. 

The  animal  and  vegetable  kingdoms  present  a 
still  more  tempting  field  of  investigation.  Animal 
and  vegetable  substances  may  be  arranged  under 
three  classes,  acids,  alkalies,  and  neutrals.  The 
class  of  acids  presents  many  substances  of  great 
utility,  either  in  the  arts,  or  for  seasoning  food.  The 
alkalies  contain  almost  all  the  powerful  medicines 
*  that  are  drawn  from  the  vegetable  kingdom.  The 
neutral  bodies  are  important  as  articles  of  food,  and 
are  applied,  too,  to  many  other  purposes  of  firstrate 
utility.  All  these  bodies  are  composed  (chiefly,  at 
least)  of  hydrogen,  carbon,  oxygen,  and  azote;  sub- 
stances easily  procured  abundantly  at  a  cheap  rate. 
Should  chemists,  in  consequence  of  the  knowledge 
acquired  by  future  investigations,  ever  arrive  at  the 
knowledge  of  the  mode  of  forming  these  principles 
from  their  elements  at  a  cheap  rate,  the  prodigious 
change  which  such  a  discovery  would  make  upon 
the  state  of  society  must  be  at  once  evident.  Man- 
kind would  be,  in  «ome  measure,  independent  of  cli- 
mate and  situation  t  every  thing  could  be  produced 
at  pleasure  in  every  part  of  the  earth;  and  the  in- 
habitants of  the  warmer  regions  would  no  longer  be 
the  exclusive  possessors  of  comforts  and  conveni- 
ences to  which  those  in  less  fiaivoured  regions  of  the 


318  mSTORY    OF   CHEMISTRY. 

earth  are  strangers,  Let  the  science  advance  fof 
another  century  with  the  same  rapidity  that  it  has 
done  during  the  last  fifty  years,  and  it  will  produce 
efTects  upon  society  of  which  the  present  race  can 
form  no  adequate  idea.  Even  already  some  of  thbse 
effects  are  besinoing  to  develop  themselves ; — our 
streets  are  now  illuminated  with  gas  drawn  from  the 
bowels  of  the  earth ;  and  the  failure  of  the  Green- 
land fishery  during  an  unfortunate  season  like  the 
last,  no  longer  fills  lis  with  dismay.  What  a  change 
has  been  produced  in  the  country  by  the  introduc- 
tion of  steani-hoals !  and  what  a  still  greater  im- 
provement is  at  present  in  progress,  when  steam- 
carriages  and  railroads  are  gradually  taking  the 
place  of  horses  and  common  roads.  Bistances  will 
soon  be  reduced  to  one-half  of  what  they  are  at  pre- 
sent ;  while  the  diminished  force  and  increased  rata 
of  conveyance  will  contribute  essentially  to  lower 
the  rest  of  our  manufactures,  and  enable  us  to  enter 
into  a  successful  competition  with  other  nations. 

I  must  say  a  few  words  upon  the  application  of 
chemistry  to  physiology  before  concluding  this  im- 
perfect sketch  of  the  present  state  of  the  science. 
The  only  functions  of  the  living  body  upon  which 
chemistry  is  calculated  to  throw  light,  are  the  pro- 
cesses of  digestion,  assimilation,  and  secretion.  The 
nervous  system  is  regulated  by  laws  seemingly  quite 
unconnected  with  chemistry  and  mechanics,  and,  in 
the  present  state  of  our  knowledge,  perfectly  in-  > 
scrutable.  Even  in  the  processes  of  digestion,  as- 
similation, and  secretion,  the  nervous  influence  isi 
important  and  essential.  Hence  even  of  these  func-  ■ 
tions  our  notions  are  necessarily  very  imperfect ;  but 
the  application  of  chemistry  supplies  us  with  some 
data  at  least,  which  are  too  important  to  be  altoge- 
ther neglected. 

The  food  of  man  consists  of  solids  and  liquids. 


OF   THE   PRESENT  STATE  OF  CHEMISTRY.    319 

and  the  quantity  of  each  taken  by  different  in- 
dividuals is  80  various,  that  no  general  average  can 
be  struck.  I  think  that  the  drink  will,  in  most 
cases,  exceed  the  solid  food  in  nearly  the  proportion 
of  4  to  3 ;  but  the  solid  food  itself  contains  not  less 
than  7- 1 0 ths  of  its  weight  of  water.  In  reality ,  then , 
the  quantity  of  liquid  taken  into  the  stomach  is  to 
that  of  solid  matter  as  10  to  1.  The  food  is  intro- 
duced into  the  mouth,  comminuted  by  the  teeth , 
and  mixed  up  with  the  saliva  into  a  kind  of  pulp. 

The  saliva  is  a  liquid  expressly  secreted  for  this 
purpose,  and  the  quantity  certainly  does  not  fall  short 
of  ten  ounces  in  the  twenty-four  hours :  indeed  I 
believe  it  exceeds  that  amount :  it  is  a  liquid  almost 
as  colourless  as  water,  slightly  viscid,  and  without 
taste  or  smell :  it  contains  about  tm  of  its  weight 
of  a  peculiar  matter,  which  is  transparent  and  soluble 
in  water :  it  has  suspended  in  it  about  ^Hn  of  its 
weight  of  mucus ;  and  in  solution,  about  ~  of 
common  salt  and  soda :  the  rest  is  water. 

From  the  mouth  the  food  passes  into  the  stomachy 
where  it  is  changed  to  a  kind  of  pap  called  chyme. 
The  nature  of  the  food  can  readily  be  distinguished 
after  mastication ;  but  when  converted  into  chyme, 
it  loses  its  characteristic  properties.  This  conversion 
is  produced  by  the  action  of  the  eighth  pair  of  nerves, 
which  are  partly  distributed  on  the  stomach ;  for 
when  they  are  cut,  the  process  is  stopped  :  but  if  a 
current  of  electricity,  by  means  of  a  small  voltaic 
battery,  be  made  to  pass  through  the  stomachy  the 
process  goes  oil  as  usual.  Hence  the  process  is  ob- 
viously connected  with  the  action  of  electricity.  A 
current  of  electricity,  by  means  of  the  nerves,  seems 
to  pass  through  the  food  in  the  stomach,  and  to  de- 
compose the  common  salt  which  is  always  mixed 
with  the  food.    The  muriatic  acid  is  set  at  liberty. 


{    OF   CI1EMI4TRT.  '^^^" 

and  dissolves  the  food ;  for  chyme  seems  to  be  simply 
a  solution  of  the  food  in  muriatic  acid. 

The  chyme  passes  through  the  pyloric  nrifice  of  the 
stomach  into  the  duodenum,  the  first  of  the  small 
intestines,  where  it  is  mixed  with  two  liquids,  the 
bile,  secreted  by  the  liver,  andthe  pancreatic  juice, 
secreted  by  the  pancreas,  and  both  dischai^cd  into 
the  duodenum  to  assist  in  the  further  digestion  of 
the  food.  The  chyme  ia  always  acid;  but  after  it 
has  been  mixed  with  the  bile,  the  acidity  disappears. 
The  characteristic  constituent  of  the  bile  is  a  bitter- 
tasted  substance  cnWed  picromel,  which  has  the  pro- 
perty of  combining  with  muriatic  acid,  and  forming 
with  it  an  insoluble  compound.  The  pancreatic 
juice  also  contains  o  peculiar  matter,  to  which 
chlorine  communicates  a  red  colour.  The  use  of  the 
pancreatic  juice  is  not  understood. 

During  the  passage  of  the  chyme  through  the 
small  intestines  it  is  gradually  separated  into  two 
substances;  the  chyle,  which  is  absorbed  by  the 
lacteals,  and  the  excrementitlous  matter,  which  Is 
gradually  protruded  along  the  great  intestines,  and 
at  last  eva.cuated.  The  chyle,  in  animals  that  live 
on  vegetable  food,  is  semitran  spa  rent,  colourless, 
and  without  smell ;  but  in  those  that  use  animal 
food  it  is  white,  slightly  similar  to  milk,  with  a  tint 
of  pink.  When  left  exposed  to  the  air  it  coagulates 
as  blood  does.  The  coagulum  h  fibrin.  The  liquid 
portion  contains  albumen,  and  the  usual  salts  that 
exist  in  the  blood.  Thus  the  chyle  contains  two 
of  the  constituents  of  blood;  namely,  albumen, 
which  perhaps  may  be  formed  in  the  stomach,  and 
fibrin,  which  is  formed  in  the  small  intestines.  It 
still  wants  the  third  constituent  of  blood,  namely, 
the  red  globules. 

From  the  lacteals  the  chyle  passes  into  the  tlio* 


OF    THE   PRESENT   STATE   OF   CHEMISTRY.       321 

racic  duct;  thence  into  the  left  subclavian  vein,  by 
which  it  is  conveyed  to  the  heart.  From  the  heart 
it  passes  into  the  lungs,  during  its  circulation 
through  which  the  red  globules  are  supposed  to  be 
formed,  though  of  this  we  have  no  direct  evidence. 

The  lungs  are  the  organs  of  breathingf  a  function 
so  necessary  to  hot-blooded  animals,  that  it  cannot 
be  suspended,  even  for  a  few  minutes,  without  oc- 
casioning death.  In  general,  about  twenty  inspira- 
tions, and  as  many  expirations,  are  made  in  a  minute. 
The  quantity  of  air  which  the  lungs  of  an  ordinary 
sized  man  can  contain,  when  fully  distended,  is 
about  300  cubic  inches.  But  the  quantity  actually 
drawn  in  and  thrown  out,  during  ordinary  inspira^ 
tions  and  expirations,  amounts  to  about  sixteen 
cubic  inches  each  time. 

In  ordinary  cases  the  volume  of  air  is  not  sensi- 
bly altered  by  respiration;  but  it  undergoes  two 
remarkable  changes.  A  portion  of  its  oxygen  is 
converted  into  carbonic  acid  gas,  and  the  air  ex- 
pired is  saturated  with  humidity  at  the  temperature 
of  98o.  The  moisture  thus  given  out  amounts  to 
about  seven  ounces  troy,  or  very  little  short  of  half 
an  avoirdupois  pound.  The  quantity  of  carbonic 
acid  formed  varies  much  in  different  individuals, 
and  also  at  different  times  in  the  day;  being  a 
maximum  at  twelve  o'clock  at  noon,  and  a  minimum 
at  midnight.  Perhaps  four  of  carbonic  acid,  in 
every  100  cubic  inches  of  air  breathed,  may  be  a 
tolerable  approach  to  the  truth ;  that  is  to  say,  that 
every  six  respirations  produce  four  cubic  inches  of 
carbonic  acid.  This  would  amount  to  19,200  cubic 
inches  in  twenty-four  hours.  Now  the  weight  of 
19,200  cubic  inches  of  carbonic  acid  gas  is  18-98 
troy  ounces,  which  contain  rather  more  than  five 
troy  ounces  of  carbon. 

These  alterations  in  the  air  are  doubtless  con- 

VOL.   II.  Y 


nected  with  corresponding  alterations  in  the  blood, 
though  with  respect  to  the  specific  nature  of  these 
alterations  we  are  ignorant.  But  there  are  two 
purposes  which  respiration  answerB,  the  nature  of 
wiiicfa  we  can  understand,  and  which  seem  to  afford 
a  reasoD  why  it  cannot  be  interrupted  without  death. 
It  serves  to  develop  the  aaimat  heat,  which  is  bo 
essential  to  the  continuance  of  life ;  and  it  gives 
the  blood  the  property  of  stimulating  the  heart; 
without  which  it  would  cease  to  contract,  and  put 
an  end  to  the  circulation  of  the  blood.  This  stimu- 
lating property  is  connected  with  the  scarlet  colour 
which  tlie  blood  acquires  during-  respiration ;  for 
wben  the  scarlet  colour  disappears  the  blood  ceases 
to  stimulate  the  heart. 

The  temperature  of  the  human  body  in  a  state 
of  health  is  about  98'  in  this  country;  but  in  the 
torrid  zone  it  is  a  little  higher.  Now  as  we  are 
almost  always  surrounded  by  a  medium  colder  than 
98",  it  is  obvious  that  the  human  body  is  constantly 
giving  out  heat ;  so  that  if  it  did  not  possess  the 
power  of  generating  heat,  it  is  clear  that  its  tem- 
perature would  soon  sink  as  low  as  that  of  the  sur- 
rounding atmosphere. 

It  is  now  generally  understood  that  common  com- 
bustion is  nothing  else  than  the  union  of  oxygen 
gas  with  the  burning  body.  The  substances  com- 
monly employed  as  combustibles  are  composed 
chiefly  of  carbon  and  hydrogen.  The  heat  evolved 
is  proportional  to  the  oxygen  gas  which  unites  with 
these  bodies.  And  it  has  been  ascertained  that 
every  3j  cubic  inches  of  oxygen  which  combine  with 
carbon  or  hydrogen  occasion  the  evolution  of  !•  of 
heat. 

There  are  reasons  for  believing  that  not  only  car- 
bon but  also  hydrogen  unite  with  oxygen  m  the 
lungs,  and  that  therefore  both  carbonic  acid  and 


vr   THE   7SE8EKT   STATU  OF   CUCUiaTKT.      3S3 

water  are  formed  in  that  organ.  And  from  the 
Jate  experiments  of  M.  Dupretz  it  is  clear  that  the 
heat  evolved  in  a  given  lime,  by  a  hot-blooded 
animal,  is  very  little  short  of  the  "heat  that  would 
be  evolved  by  the  combustion  of  the  same  weight 
of  carbon  and  hydrogen  consumed  during  that  time 
in  the  lungs.  Hence  it  follows  that  the  heat  evolved 
in  the  lungs  is  the  consequence  of  the  union  of  the 
oxygen  of  the  air  with  the  carbon  and  hydrogen 
of  the  blood,  and  that  the  process  is  perfectly  ana- 
logous to  combustion. 

The  specific  heat  of  arterial  blood  is  somewhat 
greater  than  that  of  venous  blood.  Hence  the 
reason  why  the  temperature  of  the  lungs  does  not 
become  higher  by  breathing,  and  why  the  tempera- 
ture of  the  other  parts  of  the  body  are  kept  up  by 
the  circulation. 

The  blood  seems  to  be  completed  in  the  kidneys. 
It  consists  essentially  of  albumen,  fibrin,  and  the 
ced  globules,  with  a  considerable  quantity  of  waler, 
holding  in  solution  certain  salts  which  are  fouod 
equdly  in  aU  the  animal  fluids.  It  is  employed 
during  the  circulation  in  supplying  the  waste  of 
the  system,  and  in  being  manufactured  into  all  the 
different  secretions  necessary  for  the  various  func- 
tions of  the  living  body.  By  ihese  different  apph- 
cations  of  it  we  cannot  doubt  that  its  nature  un- 
dergoes very  great  changes,  and  that  it  would  soon 
become  unfit  for  the  purposes  of  ihe  living  body 
were  there  not  an  organ  expressly  destined  to  with- 
draw the  redundant  and  useless  portions  of  that 
liquid,  and  to  restore  it  to  the  same  state  that  it 
was  in  when  it  left  the  lungs.  These  organs  are 
the  kidneys;  through  which  all  the  blood  passes, 
and  during  its  circulation  through  which  the  urine 
is  separated  from  it  and  withdrawn  altogether  from 
the  body.     These  organs  are  as  necessary  for  the 


324  HISTORY    O?   CHEMISTft*!" 


I 


e  of  life  as  the  lungs  themselves;  accoid- 
ingly,  when  they  are  diseased  or  destroyed,  death 
very  speedily  ensues. 

The  quantity  of  urine  voided  daily  is  very  vari 
though,  doubtless,  it  bears  a  close  relation  to  that 
of  the  driak.  It  is  nearly  but  not  quite  equal  to 
the  amount  of  the  drink;  and  is  seldom,  in  persons 
who  enjoy  health,  less  than  2  lbs.  avoirdupois  ir 
twenty-four  hours.  Urine  is  one  of  the  most  .com- 
plex substances  in  the  animal  kingdom,  containing 
a  much  greater  number  of  ingredients  than  ar 
be  found  in  the  blood  from  which  it  is  secreted. 

The  water  in  urine  voided  daily  amounts  to  about 
]-86Glbs.  The  blood  contains  no  acid  except  a 
little  muriatic.  But  in  urine  we  find  sulphuric 
phosphoric,  and  uric  acids,  and  sometimes  oxali 
and  nitric  acids,  and  perhaps  also  some  others.  The 
quantity  of  sulphuric  acid  may  be  about  forty-eight 
grains  daily,  containing  nineteen  grains  of  sulphi 
The  phosphoric  acid  about  thirty-three  grains,  co 
laining  about  fourteen  grains  of  phosphorus.  The 
uric  acid  may  amount  to  fourteen  grains.  These 
acids  are  in  combination  with  potash,  or  soda,  or 
ammonia,  and  also  with  a  very  little  lime  and  m^- 
nesia.  The  common  salt  evacuated  daily  in  the 
urine  amounts  to  about  sixty-two  grains.  The  urea, 
a  peculiar  substance  found  only  in  the  urine,  a- 
mounts  perhaps  to  as  much  as  420  grains. 

It  would  appear  from  these  facts  that  the  kidneys 
possess  the  property  of  converting  the  sulphur  and 
phosphorus,  which  are  known  to  exist  in  the  blood, 
into  acids,  and  likewise  of  forming  other  acids  and 

The  quantity  of  water  thrown  out  of  the  system 
by  the  urine  and  lungs  is  scarcely  equal  to  the 
amount  of  liquid  daily  consumed  along  with  the 
food.     But  there  is  another  organ  which  has  been 


OF   THE   PRESENT   STATE   OF   CHEMISTRY.      325 

ascertained  to  throw  out  likewise  a  considerable 
quantity  of  moisture,  this  organ  is  the  skin;  and 
the  process  is  called  perspiration.  From  the  ex- 
periments of  Lavoisier  and  Seguin  it  appears  that 
the  quantity  of  moisture  given  out  daily  by  the 
skin  amounts  to  54*89  ounces:  this  added  to  the 
quantity  evolved  from  the  lungs  and  the  urine  con- 
siderably exceeds  the  weight  of  liquid  taken  with 
the  food,  and  leaves  no  doubt  that  water  as  well 
as  carbonic  acid  must  be  formed  in  the  lungs  dur- 
ing respiration. 

Such  is  an  imperfect  sketch  of  the  present  state 
of  that  department  of  physiology  which  is  most  in- 
timately connected  with  Chemistry.  It  is  amply 
sufficient,  short  as  it  is,  to  satisfy  the  most  careless 
observer  how  little  progress  has  hitherto  been  made 
in  these  investigations ;  and  what  an  extensive  field 
remains  yet  to  be  traversed  by  future  observers. 


THE   END. 


C.  WHITINO,  BBAUFORT  HOUSB,  STRAND. 


NEW  YORK  PUBLIC  Llttti^.. 
RBFBRBNGB  DBPARTMBNT 


lok  it  under  no  oiroumttanoet  to  be 
taken  from  the  Building 


I,